Egri csillagok

The setting is 16th century Hungary during the Ottoman occupation. Seven-year-old Gergely Bornemissza and Éva Cecey are captured by the one-eyed Turkish janissary Jumurdzsák. They escape and take with them the man’s treasured ring.

On growing up, the boy becomes squire to Bálint Török, a nobleman who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire until he was captured and taken to Istanbul, and Éva is a lady-in-waiting to Queen Izabella. They are in love with each other but Éva’s father has promised her to someone else. On the day of the wedding the girl flees and together with Gergely they go to Istanbul to free Bálint Török from the sultan’s prison.

Ten years later, in 1552, Ottoman troops gathered beneath Eger Castle. Gergely joins the fortress’s 1500 defenders led by their captain István Dobó, while his wife, Éva, was approached by a mysterious one-eyed stranger who asked her about a ring.