Set in 1930s Spain amidst the politics of the right and the left, this is the tale of a man of humble origins who kills the town bully in a just fight.

An Argentinian medical student, finding himself drawn to the countryside, houses with a Scottish/Native family where he reads the illiterate family the Gospel of Mark to then be found in a debacle of religious proportions (as he was not a pious man himself, but becomes more of a religious figure in their eyes).

Detective Lonnrot declares war on the notorious outlaw Red Scharlach, after the outlaw has pulled of daring robbery. The mysterious murder of a Talmudic priest provides Lonnrot with a clue.