In the aftermath of a hard-fought battle between Indigenous warriors in 1267, when many
Iroquoians were killed on the "Isle of Death", an Iroquois prophet gives the massacre's lone survivor the name Asigny. Centuries later, Asigny's descendant Baptiste Asigny is a graduate student studying
Mohawk history. Baptiste struggles to pay rent and obtain research grants while studying under the
Université de Montréal archaeology professor Antoine Morin. One night, a rainstorm opens a sinkhole in the field during a game at
McGill University's
Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, killing one player. Observing the development, Morin theorizes that the sinkhole may lead to evidence of
Hochelaga, where French explorer
Jacques Cartier contacted
Indigenous peoples in Quebec in 1535. Morin obtains an order from the Ministry of Culture to be allowed to dig and hires Baptiste to lead an archaeological excavation of the field. The archaeologists dig over several days, finding that the "Isle of Death" was the site of a "purple fever" outbreak in 1687. French settler Étienne Maltais is involved in a sexual affair with a native woman named Akwi. He promises her that, next year, he will marry her not before God, but the
Great Spirit. She notices sores on his body, which he dismisses as injuries caused by a fall during a hunt. Maltais falls gravely ill of purple fever and is committed to a hospital, where the Catholic chaplain accuses him of
sin over fornicating with a "savage". He resolutely orders the priest to stop haranguing him, and later dies. Baptiste finds that the sinkhole is located over a stream and finds the weapons which he believed could have belonged to
Patriote rebels during the
Lower Canada Rebellion in 1837. The two Patriotes had fled British loyalist forces led by Colonel Philip Thomas. They came upon the Walker property, though archaeologists note that Mr. Walker had been firmly loyalist. However, the widowed Sarah Walker gives the Patriotes sanctuary. The Patriotes are discovered and killed by the loyalists. Mrs. Walker tells Thomas that due to her advanced age, she does not believe that she will ever go to trial. At the end of the dig, Baptiste finds the cross of explorer
Jacques Cartier, who arrived to Hochelaga in 1535, claiming the land for the
Kingdom of France. Cartier met with the chief Tennawake and presented him with the cross. The meeting is peaceful, though Tennawake and his people consider that more Europeans will come to Hochelaga. Cartier names the land Mont Réal (royal mountain). The football team returns to the field, and six years after the sinkhole opened Morin congratulates Baptiste on his research. ==Cast==