Manuel Payno's classic Mexican novel develops a romantic history of impossible love between the Countess Mariana del Sauz and Lieutenant Colonel Juan Robreno. An illegitimate son results from a brief union of these lovers, and this star-crossed child is kidnapped and abandoned by Aztec witches. Wrongly accused of theft and murder, he must pursue the truth of his birth through staggering misfortunes. Along the way he experiences war, famine, plague, and association with Evaristo, a bandit of national and even international fame who nearly brings a government to its knees.

These and a host of other memorable characters are swept up in a web of organized crime spun by the fabulous Relumbron, presidential assistant, wealthy aristocrat, church stalwart, family man, and former associate of the great Santa Ana.