The film begins in the late 1890s . Cappadocian Greek Stavros Topouzoglou ( Giallelis ) , lives in an impoverished village below Mount Argaeus in Ottoman Turkey . Stavros witnesses the Hamidian massacres against Greek and Armenian Christians . The life of the Cappadocian Greeks and Armenians of Kayseri is depicted , including the traditional cliff cave dwellings in which Stavros ' grandmother lives . Stavros is entrusted by his father with the family 's financial resources in a mission of hope to the Turkish capital Constantinople ( renamed Istanbul in 1930 ) , where he is to work in the carpet business of his father 's cousin ( Harry Davis ) , although his own dream is to reach the faraway land of opportunity , America . His odyssey begins with a long voyage on a donkey and on foot through the impoverished towns and villages on the way to Constantinople . Due to his kind nature and naivete , he dissipates all the money and arrives at the cousin 's home penniless . The older man is deeply disappointed at this turn of events since he was counting on the infusion of funds to rescue his failing carpet store . Nevertheless , he attempts to salvage the situation by proposing that Stavros marry a wealthy merchant 's ( Paul Mann ) young daughter ( Linda Marsh ) . Stavros realizes that such a marriage would mean the end of his American dream and adamantly refuses , abruptly leaving the angry cousin
Hamidian massacres
Hamidian massacres
America America