Through the first-person narration of Gabriel de Araceli, the novel describes the second siege of Zaragoza, which occurred in January and February 1809, during the War of Independence between Spain and France. The story depicts one of his most stark pictures of the violence of the war, with meticulous descriptions of the preparations for the defense of the city, under General Palafox, the war skirmishes, the lack of food, the technical and material superiority of the French and the yellow fever epidemic that decimated the population of a Zaragoza.