As a protege of Constable Colonna Giulio Mazarini receives the rank of captain in the Pope's army. He arrives at the Adriatic shore of Italy where his unit is quartered in two cities: Ancona and Loreto. He is sent to be in charge of a company in Loreto, a small town south of Ancona famous for its cathedral which houses the Santa Casa, an ancient structure believed to be the original house of St. Mary. But Mazarini's assignment has nothing to do with religious matters. He is entrusted with a secret task of exposing a Spanish spy ring suspected to be operating in either Ancona or Loreto.

In the Loreto garrison Mazarini faces the insults of the drunk and indolent Captain di Sordi, but quickly puts an end to his attacks in a forceful and decisive manner immediately gaining respect of the other officers.

His task of finding the spies leads Mazarini to investigate the relationship between certain officers of his unit and Captain di Sordi. What he discovers opens his eyes to the past of the captain and one of his toadies, but also leads him to believe that the important leaders of the spy ring are not in Loreto but in the bigger town of Ancona. Mazarini manages to discover the secret communication link between the two towns which results in a bloody confrontation between a spy messenger and Mazarini's agent. Mazarini begins to understand that the Spanish spies aim at gathering information on the movement of the papal forces in northern Italy. The situation is quite delicate. Spain is considered an ally of the Pope of Rome and is supposed to have the right to know the military secrets of the papal army. But the Pope does not want his ally to know all. He wants to get rid of an unauthorized Spanish penetration into the secrets of the papal army. All of this means: find the Spanish spies but don't offend the Spaniards.

Mazarini realizes that the main task of the spies is to find out about the movement of the papal army to a strategical valley in the Alps called Valtellina. There, the interests of four European powers, France, Spain, Austria and the Papal States, are on a collision course. Ostensibly it is Spain, Austria and the Papal States which are against France. But in reality the Papal States are vacillating between the Spanish and French influence. The Spaniards suspect a French bias in the Pope's policies and this is one of the reasons why they try to spy after their ally. By exposing the Spanish spies Mazarini automatically adopts a pro-French position. This suits him because he has long been a French sympathizer.

Mazarini moves the focus of his operation to Ancona and achieves his relocation there through a clever manipulation of his military superiors.

In Ancona he uses the agents he acquired still in Loreto to watch some of the officers of the headquarters. He discovers who the mysterious leader of the Spanish spy ring is and learns about all of his agents. To prepare the arrest of the spies Mazarini traces the activities of a certain Elvira Nero, an extremely beautiful woman, and in doing so becomes amorously involved with her. He understands that this love affair may be a hindrance in his task of exposing the spies. Finally he overcomes his passions, finds a proof of Elvira's participation in the Spanish spy operation and arranges for the arrest of the spies including the beautiful Elvira.

In spite of this success Mazarini now is in trouble with the pro-Spanish cabal of the Vatican. They insist on Mazarini's arrest accusing him of undermining the interests of the Spanish ally of the Pope. But Mazarini has friends in the pro-French camp inside the Vatican. They arrange for a private meeting between Mazarini and the Pope of Rome. In his interview with the Pope Mazarini manages to persuade a skeptical Urban VIII who has prepared an arrest warrant for the young captain to change his mind and not only exonerate him but secretly approve of his actions.

This important victory allows Mazarini to be employed as a secretary in the Pope's legation in Milan. He meets Count d'Arville, a secret agent of Richelieu's, and their life long cooperation and later friendship begins. D'Arville is the first link between Mazarini and Richelieu whom the young diplomat admires as a great statesman. D'Arville also has secret and personal ties with Cardinal Bentivoglio, the leader of the pro-French grouping at Rome. This helps Mazarini to effect a footing at the Vatican.

Working in Milan, the capital of a Spanish possession in Northern Italy, Mazarini and d'Arville prepare a secret agreement between the French and the papals which allows a French occupation of the Valtellina. The Spaniards are outraged. They succeed in capturing Mazarini and keep him in a dungeon which may become his tomb. But unexpectedly Mazarini is saved by an old acquaintance, a man called Xavier whom he knew at the time of his stay in Spain when he was a student in a Spanish university. Xavier, a man of giant proportions, used to be a robber who turned a trustworthy servant of young Mazarini in Spain. This huge man, naive and sincere, returns to Mazarini's life and becomes a combination of a body-guard and a friend for many years to come.

At last Mazarini participates in a peace conference on Valtellina and, although a junior diplomat, succeeds in pacifying aggressive conferees and helps to achieve peace in Valtellina on terms beneficial to the Vatican and France.

After the conference Mazarini becomes quite famous as a diplomat and applies his talents to an attempt to resolve yet another crisis in Northern Italy, that of the Mantuan inheritance. Here again he is a staunch defender of the papal and French interests and of peace in Europe. For the first time his activity is noticed and appreciated by the great Cardinal Richelieu.

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