Burn

In 1844, the British Admiralty dispatches Sir William Walker to Queimada to organize a slave uprising and replace the Portuguese regime with a government pliant to the Antilles Royal Sugar Company. He moves quickly to set the stage for rebellion, using manipulation to weaken the ruling elite.

Walker befriends the charismatic José Dolores and entices him to lead the rebellion. He also persuades leading landowners to reject Portuguese rule, isolating the colony's power structure.

Dolores's uprising sweeps across Queimada, catching the authorities off guard. The movement gains momentum as enslaved people rally to the cause and seize control of key areas.

In a carefully timed night operation, Walker orchestrates the assassination of the Portuguese governor. A new regime loyal to the Antilles Company takes power, with Teddy Sanchez as the figurehead.

Walker bargains abolition of slavery in exchange for Dolores's recognition of the new regime and the surrender of arms. The arrangement solidifies a puppet government under the Company's influence.

Having fulfilled his mission in Queimada, Walker leaves for his next assignment in Indochina. He leaves behind a fragile order that serves the Company's interests.

In 1848, Dolores, disenchanted with the regime's collaboration with the Company, launches a second uprising to expel British influence and restore true autonomy. The resistance continues to simmer as the island remains volatile.

The insurgency lasts for six years, with Dolores and her allies facing ongoing retaliation from Company-backed forces. The island experiences periodic clashes as the struggle for control continues.

In 1854, the Antilles Company locates Walker in Plymouth, England and summons him back to Queimada with Admiralty consent. His return signals a harsher strategy to suppress the rebellion and pacify the island.

Walker engineers a coup to oust President Sanchez, replacing him with a regime wholly beholden to the Antilles Company. The island's governance becomes a tool of exploitation under Company control.

Guided by Walker, British forces arrive and rapidly suppress the ongoing revolt. Dolores is captured, and the rebels face a decisive crackdown that crushes the public face of resistance.

Walker offers to intervene to spare Dolores’s life owing to their shared past, but she refuses his help, insisting that freedom must be earned rather than handed to her people. The moment underscores the cost of autonomy.

Dolores is hanged as the rebellion’s symbolic leader falls. The execution marks a grim turn in the struggle for independence and underscores the brutality of the suppression.

Moments after Dolores’s death, a man who had greeted Walker like Dolores did upon arrival stabs him. He dies amid the accusatory or defeated gazes of the port's poor, a final, personal reckoning for his schemes.