The drama is adapted from James Clavell's best-selling novel of the same name in 1975. The story is set in 1600 in Japan, at the dawn of a century long civil war known as the Battle of Sekigahara. Faced with the alliance of the five major enemies to fight against themselves, Yoshii Toranaga Daimyo (played by Hiroyuki Makita) must fight for his life. When a mysterious European ship is found stranded in a nearby fishing village, the British pilot John Blackthorn (played by Cosmore Jarvis) on board brings secrets that may help Toranarga overturn the balance of power, and these secrets may also destroy the powerful influence of Blackthorn's own enemies - Jesuit priests and Portuguese merchants. The fate of Toranaga and Blackthorn becomes inseparable from their translator Toda Mariko (played by Akina Zei). Mariko is a mysterious Christian woman, the last member of a declining aristocratic family. In an era of political turmoil, Mariko not only had to serve her name, but also had to find a balance between her new relationship with Blackthorne, her sense of mission towards faith and her late father's wishes. The original work is narrated from both Western and Japanese perspectives, set during the Edo Shogunate period in Japan, with the prototypes being Tokugawa Ieyasu and Miura Nishinobu.

該劇根據1975年James Clavell的同名暢銷小說改編。 故事背景為1600年的日本，當時正值一場世紀內戰的黎明，即關原合戰。 面對五大老中的敵人聯合起來對抗自己，Yoshii Toranaga大名（真田廣之飾）必須為性命而戰。 當一艘神秘的歐洲船隻被發現困在附近的一個漁村後，船上的英國引航員John Blackthorne（柯斯莫·賈維斯飾）帶來了可能幫助Toranaga顛覆權力天平的秘密，這些秘密也可能摧毀Blackthorne自己的敵人——耶穌會教士和葡萄牙商人擁有的强大影響力。 Toranaga和Blackthorne的命運與他們的翻譯Toda Mariko（澤井杏奈飾）變得密不可分。 Mariko是一比特神秘的基督教女子，來自沒落貴族血脈的最後一比特家族成員。 在政治局勢動盪的時代，Mariko不僅要為她的大名服務，還必須在自己與Blackthorne建立的新關係、對信仰和先父遺願的使命感之間找到平衡點。 原著通過西方和日本兩個角度來講述，背景設定在日本的江戶幕府時代，原型是德川家康和三浦按針。