The story of Crete and its people struggling for individual and national liberation from Turkish rule, a struggle symbolized in two main characters of the novel, the fictional Konstandis and the historical Venizelos, both figures of epic proportions.

The Cretan is three books in one: The Tree; The First Freedom; and, The State. 

The Tree presents a young man, growing and maturing like a sapling in the local popular culture, which was closed and rudimentary, but self-sufficient. The First Freedom describes the struggle of the mature man to gether with his comrades to achieve national liberation. Lastly, The State depicts the national fighters sacrificing themselves for the second precondition of a decent life, in other words, a democratic state.