At Rome
- The year is 1848. In Rome, three Cardinals and a visiting missionary from America are having dinner in a lush Roman garden.
- The men chat about the recent Mexican-American War, which has resulted in the territory of New Mexico becoming part of the United States. This means that the Roman Catholic Church will have to redraw the boundaries of its religious district (or diocese) to follow this change.
- It's not going to be easy to create a new Catholic diocese in New Mexico, for a couple of reasons. For starters, this area is now part of America, which is mostly Protestant. Second, this area is huge and isn't connected by any railway or rivers to the rest of the States, meaning that it would be almost impossible for the Church to police everything that's happening within its borders.
- The religious men realize that a lot will depend on which people they choose to be in charge of this new religious district in New Mexico. Whoever it is will have a lot of hard work to do, especially when it comes to getting the Mexican priests and Native American peoples on board.
- One of the French Cardinals speaks up and says that he has someone in mind to do the job—a French priest named Latour who's been working up in Canada around the Great Lakes. The others think that this dude might be a good choice, since they don't really have any other ideas.
- One of the high-ranking Cardinals asks a favor in return for recommending Father Latour for the job. It seems that a long time ago, his great-grandfather gave away a valuable painting that might have ended up in New Mexico. He wants this new French priest to keep an eye out in case he sees it hanging on the wall of some church or house, since he (the Cardinal) would like to have it back.
- With that matter settled, the men get up to drink some champagne.