Two matched souls born on the same date, one in France one in Italy. Distant cousins meet when they are both 26 years old. Giuseppe, from France, is a soldier and also a Marquis with extensive wealth and privilege. Raphaello, the poorer relation, is a quiet and reserved painters apprentice recently returned from a five-year servitude under a mean master painter in Venice, believing himself finally free of such obligation. Both young men were called home when their fathers died, Giuseppe from a war with the Sforza dynasty in Milan, and Raphaello from Venice. Their mothers, second cousins, are of Medici heritage having grown up together in Italy, watch as their two sons form a strong and passionate bond. A bond that spans centuries.