The possibility that they may form a trilogy in three significant parts, or "partos" (births) as Unamuno suggested in the Prologue to the 1933 edition, has only recently been considered.

[1] The events of the novel occur in Valverde de Lucerna, a small village located on the edge of an idyllic lake.

The fictional location in San Manuel Bueno, mártir was perhaps inspired by a real place, as suggested by the real-life lake San Martín de Castañeda, in Sanabria, at the foot of the ruins of a convent to St. Bernard where to this day lives a legend of a submerged city (Valverde de Lucerna) sleeping at the bottom of the lake.

The novel tells the story of the local Catholic priest (Don Manuel) in fictional Valverde de Lucerna, Spain as told through the eyes of Angela, one of the townspeople.

Instead of refusing to allow the holy burial of someone who committed suicide, Don Manuel explains that he is sure that in the last moment, the person would have repented for their sin.

Angela, after a brief stint away for education, returns to the town to live with her mother where she continues to be amazed at Manuel's devotion.

Although Angela questions the goodness of such a deed, Lazarus insists that Don Manuel is a saint for the things he has done all his life for the town.

However, she finishes her narration by positing that perhaps it was God's will all along that both Manuel and Lazarus believe themselves to be non-believers, since it helped them to do good in the world.