[5] During the Philippine Revolution in October 1897, Tagalog revolutionaries allied with the Katipunan attack a Spanish garrison in Baler, Aurora, killing 37 out of 50 soldiers stationed there.

Three months later, the 2nd Expeditionary Battalion led by Captain Enrique de las Morenas y Fossí and Lieutenant Martín Cerezo is sent from Manila to retake the village.

Despite being informed by Brother Carmelo of the San Luís Obispo de Tolosa church in Baler that the rebels have left, Cerezo takes no chances and orders his men to proceed with caution.

Teresa and the village women bring oranges and the latest newspapers to the church as a peace offering, leading to an argument between Cerezo and Costa over the fate of the battalion.

Cerezo leads Costa and some cadets to sabotage the rebels' cannon, but an erratic Carlos goes further by stealing the village's food and burning the surrounding houses before retreating back to the church.

On 18 May 1899, after Carlos emerges from his rehabilitation, Lieutenant Colonel Cristóbal Aguilar y Castañeda, on behalf of Governor-General Diego de los Ríos, arrives at the church to deliver newspapers and orders for the battalion to lay down their arms.

Carlos offers to travel back to Manila to verify the news they were receiving, but he is captured by Tagalog forces and brought to Luna, who tells him that Spain had sold the Philippines to the Americans for $20 million, leading to the Philippine–American War.

As his men lay wounded from another gun battle, Cerezo realizes the truth when he reads a personnel transfer article on a newspaper indicating that his friend Francisco Díaz was posted to Málaga.