The protagonist, César Rubio, is an unemployed professor who, in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution, settles with his family in a small town in the north of Mexico.
Rubio claims to be the deceased hero, telling the professor that, disillusioned with the course of the Revolution, he had embraced anonymity until thirty years thereafter.
The story is published in The New York Times, and Rubio comes to the attention of his compatriots, receiving accolades and fielding offers to run for the governorship of his state against a corrupt Revolutionary general.
Navarro briefly returns to the house to gloat before addressing the crowd outside, promising that César will be treated as a hero and his family will be taken care of.
Its debut in the Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes was welcomed by the theater-going public, but was met with hostility by the Mexican government.