After giving the Creole cause the arguments to defeat the Spaniards in the Revolution of May 1810 and after a tough campaign in front of the Northern Expeditionary Army, where he served on behalf of the First Board, Juan José Castelli falls into disgrace as a revolutionary and dies, alone and impoverished, of a cancer of the tongue.
The story follows a 15-year-old Manuel Corvalán, who decides to leave his upper-class family and be disinherited by his father to join the newly formed Army of the Andes, commanded by the General José de San Martín.