Pedro, Juana and other men gather, worried about Francisco because they have heard that he is going to be moved from El Puerto to Jerez, and they know that there have been men who have been shot in the back. Juana comes up with the idea of their helping him escape, and Juana volunteers to be the bait.
The plan is not carried out because Francisco is released from prison. They all welcome him, but Francisco is a different man now. The experience in the prison, being tortured by Oliver, has left its mark. He has nightmares, and he tells his brother that he doesn't want to fight any longer. His idea is to go to Malaga and join his wife and children. Pedro, who is now in a relationship with Juana, wishes him well. The day that he is about to leave, Oliver and his men appear and arrest Francisco, Pedro, Juan Ruiz and some others, and he accuses the Corbacho brothers of murder and illegal association. When Juana tries to oppose him, Oliver hits her with his sword and leaves her unconscious.
Oliver uses a book of rules of what is called Society of the Poor against their thieves and executioners, and a symbol of a black hand is printed on the document. He went to Rodrigo with it, claiming that this is a secret society led by Pedro, Francisco and Juan Ruiz. Oliver also accuses them of killing Bartolo, Blanco de Benahocaz, when a man, Cayetano Espósito, went to the police headquarters, confessing to beating up his wife and admitting doing horrible things. The man told Oliver that he sent two men to kill Blanco de Benahocaz, and he even shows him where he was buried. Oliver brings Blanco's parents, and the couple is forced to identify their son even though the corpse is unrecognizable. This is the man that Oliver accuses the Corbachos of killing, reasoning that Blanco wanted to leave the Black Hand.
The brothers, Juan Ruiz and many others are sent to prison, and the press uses the story of the Black Hand for their articles in the newspapers. Oliver orders the arrest of dozens of men all over the province, and the prisons start to fill up.
This story of the Black Hand is something that Oliver and Doña Ines concocted together to get rid of the peasants that had become a problem. By favouring Oliver, Doña Ines has relegated Monforte, which the older man doesn't seem to be pleased about. Monforte tries to talk to Doña Inés, but she ignores him, and Monforte swears to get his own back. The policeman happens to find the priest who was a confessor of Leandro in a shameful position, and he uses the situation to make the priest tell him about Leandro. What Don Ignacio tells him is more shocking that he had imagined, and he tells Monforte that Leandro and his sister have intimate relations, which is information that Monforte intends to use.
El Zagal is now part of El Junco's band, and he proves his value when the band are arrested by two civil guards. El Zagal manages to escape, which El Juncal considers treason. Then when the two guards stop on the way to Jerez, one of them go to deliver himself, and when he returns, he shoots the other guard dead. El Junco and the others realise that the guard is El Zagal. After killing one of the guard, he put on his clothes and walked back to the camp and shot the other. Junco was impressed.
El Junco takes the band to Gibraltar, fearing that these two murders could get them into trouble with the law. El Junco starts a relationship with a young man, Ciro, and the men of his band are not pleased that he is spending their money on his infatuation. Then El Junco sends El Zagal to Jerez to deliver some wares as well as Rodrigo's heroin. Unfortunately, he is arrested, and when Oliver arrests him and finds the heroin, El Zagal has no problem to tell him who it is from.
Rodrigo has found the same document that Oliver used as evidence that in Jerez there was a secret society intending to cause havoc, but this new document is from eight years previously, which clearly belies Oliver's accusations. Rodrigo can't believe that something that started eight years ago can't simply appear again all of sudden. However, Oliver uses the information that El Zagal gave him about Rodrigo's addiction as leverage against him, and there is nothing he can do. Then he discovers that he has been replaced by another judge.
El Zagal's family has been decimated. The mother has also died when she ate from a bread loaf that was poisoned. So now the girl is alone, and she first goes with a group of wild boys and girls, called the Pelaos. Yet, when she discoversthat they also eat human meat, she leaves.
The girl then is witness to a crime when she goesto see Antonio, the owner of an inn. From the darkness she sees a man, who we know is Calato, Doña Ines's right hand, moving some big shapes. When she comes close to the inn, she discovers that Antonio os dead and Calato is spreading blood all over hwhat she thought are lumps, and she realises that they are men who are unconscious. The girl is discovered by Calata and sarts running with Calato hot at her heels, but then she comes across a cart, and the people in the art rescues her.
The next day Oliver comes to investigate the death of Antonio, and the four men are arrested even though they swear that they don't remember anything. They just know that they started drinking from some bottles of good wine that someone had left. It seems that this is another crime that Doña Ines and Oliver want to add to the Black Hand's list.
Apart from that, Leandro has attempted to commit suicide because he misses his sister, Jimena, who has gone to Seville with her last beau. That is why Ines sends Calato to find Jimena and bring her back. Ines admits that for the first time in her life she knows that she loves her son, who she has named the heir of the family fortune.
And Juana has discovered that she is pregnant with Pedro's child. What will she do now?
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