After the auto-da-fé that left him an orphan, Alonso goes to the orphanage to retrieve his brother Diego, but there he faces the worst of news when they inform him that the boy died shortly after being admitted. Broken with grief, he leans on his friends Juan and Antonio, who help him overcome this new loss by immersing him in the harsh yet fascinating world of picaresque.
One night, they rescue Don Gonzalo Soto de Armendía, Marquis of Velarde, from a robbery, and he rewards them by incorporating them into the service of his household. This new twist in Alonso’s life will open the doors to a very different Madrid from the one he knows, that of the aristocracy; it will plunge him into a whirlwind of adventures and misadventures; it will put him in the path of people who will shape his future and also his past, and, above all, it will provide him with the opportunity to consummate his revenge and finally restore the honour of the Castro family.