El crimen de Cuenca is the title of a book published at the same time by the author of the movie script, (Lola) Salvador Maldonado, in which she recounts the same facts.

On 21 August 1910, in the small town of Osa de la Vega, in the province of Cuenca, José María Grimaldos, known as "El Cepa" (the stump), is seen on the road to the nearby village of Tresjuncos and then disappears.

In the subsequent judicial investigation the family and others express their suspicions that two men, Gregorio Valero and León Sánchez had killed him for his money.

Two years later, in early 1926, it is discovered by chance that the reputed victim, Grimaldos, "El Cepa", was alive and had been living in a nearby town.

After the case passed to ordinary courts, the Audiencia Nacional eventually lifted the ban and the film was ensuingly released theatrically in Spain on 17 August 1981.