No sooner does the honest new commandante arrive than he is assassinated by a mysterious stranger who frames an elderly beggar for the crime and appears to be part of a larger conspiracy.

Ramon Santil has just inherited his father's ranch and holdings, and some bad news. The magistrado tells him there's a high tax that must be paid at once or he will lose the land, and Ramon doesn't have the money to pay it. In desperation, he sells all of his cattle to Carlos Urista, a recent arrival in town whom Diego suspects as another of the Eagle's men.