The Sienese Pia Tolomei is imprisoned in a castle by a jealous husband. Based on the novel by Marguerite Yourcenar, inspired by a story from the Italian Middle Ages.
The story of a peasant whose harshness and bluntness only provoke disputes and anger, and his honesty and sense of truth and honor in conjunction with the previous qualities only exacerbate these disputes.
In this film the director's recurring concerns return: the divisions in the Chilean left, and its contradictions between what the director calls the "traditional" and the "revolutionary" left.
Sam and Buddy, two highway robbers, join with Colonel Quint, a big crook, who sold his services to Morgan, the banker, in order to free Baby, the banker's daughter, abducted by Espartero and his killers gang.
Abel Hradscheck, the owner of an inn in the Oderbruch country, faces financial ruin. For this state of affairs, Ursula, his wife and former actress, is by no means free of blame.
The innkeeper Barnabáš and the teacher Isidor Slovíčko succumb to the lure of old Moreles, to whom the young Taussig sends enthusiastic letters from America.