The novel follows Tirant the White (Tirant lo Blanch), a knight from Brittany, as he travels to the Byzantine Empire to help the Emperor fight the Ottoman Turks. Along the way, Tirant engages in naval battles, sieges, political intrigues, and an extended love affair with the Princess Carmesina. Unlike other chivalric heroes, Tirant is not invincible or purely idealistic — he makes mistakes, uses strategy over brute force, and even dies from a cold at the end of the book.