The action takes place in Spain during the time of King Don Pedro the Just or the Cruel (1350–1369). During the hunt, the King’s brother Infant don Enrique falls from his horse and is unconsciously brought into the house of don Gutierre Alfonso de Solis. They are met by Don Gutierre's wife, Don Mansia, in which the courtiers from the suite of the infante, Don Arias and Don Diego recognize his former lover. Donja Mencia is in a difficult position, because her husband does not know that Don Enrique, who knew her before, is still in love. The Infant comes to his senses and sees nearby Donja Mancia, who informs him that she is now the wife of the master of the house. She makes it clear to the prince that he now has nothing to hope for. Don Enrique wants to leave right there, but Don Gutierre, who appears, persuades him to stay. The prince answers that in the heart of his beloved “he has become the master of another,” and he must go. Don Gutierre gives him his horse and, in addition to it, the footman Kokin, a joker who calls himself “a housekeeper with a mare”. In parting, don Enrique hinted to Don Mansia an early meeting, saying that the lady should be given "an opportunity to make excuses."
Don Gutierre wants to see the prince off, but doña Mencia tells him that he really wants to meet Leonora, whom he loved before and has not forgotten so far. The husband swears that this is not so. Left alone with the handmaid Jacinta, Don Mancia admits to her that when she saw Enrique again, “now love and honor entered into battle with each other.”
King Don Pedro receives the petitioners and gives everyone as best he can: he appoints a soldier to command a platoon, and gives a poor old man a ring with a diamond. Doña Leonora appeals to the king complaining about don Gutierre, who promised to marry her, and then refused. Now he is married to another, and her honor is shamed, and Donora Leonora wants him to make a “worthy contribution” for her and give her the opportunity to go to the monastery. The king promises to resolve the matter, but after he listens to Don Gutierre.
Don Gutierre appears, and the king asks him to explain the reason for the refusal to marry doña Leonora. He admits that he loved doña Leonora, but, "being not bound by the word," he took another wife. The king wants to know what is the reason for such a change, and don Gutierre says that once in the house of doña Leonora I found a man who jumped from the balcony and disappeared. Leonora wants to tell right away what really happened, but Don Arias, who is standing next to him, enters into a conversation and admits that he was then in Leonora’s house. He then courted the lady who came to visit Donora Leonora at night, and he, “in love with the mind,” followed her impolitely “into the house”, and the mistress was unable to “prevent” him. Suddenly, Don Gutierre appeared, and don Arias, saving the honor of Leonora, disappeared, but was noticed. Now he is ready to give an answer to don Gutierre in a duel. They grab at the swords, but the king in anger orders to arrest both, for without the will of the king no one dares to draw weapons in his presence.
Don Enrique, seeing that the husband of Donja Mancia has been arrested, decides to get to her house for a date. He bribes the servant Jacint, and she leads him into the house. During a conversation with Don Mancia, don Gutierre returns, don Enrique hides. Don Gutierre tells his wife that his friend Alcald, the head of the guard, released him from prison for the night. To bring Don Enrique out of the house, Don Mancia raised a false alarm, screaming that she had seen someone in a cloak in her bedroom. The husband grabs the sword and rushes there, Don Mancia deliberately overturns the lamp, and in the darkness, Jacinta takes Don Enrique out of the house. However, he loses his dagger, which is found by don Gutierre, and in his soul a terrible suspicion arises that his wife deceived him.
The king, at the request of don Enrique, releases don Arias and don Gutierre from prison. When he sees the prince’s sword, don Gutierre compares it with the dagger he found, then he tells don Enrique that he would not want to meet such a fighter as the prince, even in the dark, without recognizing him. Don Enrique understands the hint, but remains silent, which gives Don Gutierre reason for suspicion. He is ready at all costs to find out the secret on which his honor depends. He wonders whose dagger he found in his house and whether Don Mancia accidentally knocked over a lamp. He decides to secretly sneak into his house under the guise of a lover, Doña Mancia and, covering his face with a cloak, play the scene of a meeting with her to check if his wife is faithful to him.
Don Gutierre secretly returns to his house, without warning his wife that the king released him. He sneaks into the bedroom to the bottom of Mansia and, changing his voice, speaks to her. Mencia thinks that the prince has come to her, and calls him "Your Highness", don Gutierre guesses that we are talking about the prince. Then he leaves, and then pretends to have entered through the garden gate, and loudly demands servants. Doña Mancia happily meets him, but it seems to him that she is lying and pretending.
Don Gutierre tells the king about the adventures of his brother Don Enrique and shows the prince's dagger. He says that he must save his honor by washing it in the blood, but not in the blood of the prince, whom he does not dare to bite.
The king meets his brother and demands that he give up his criminal passion for Don Mansia, shows him a dagger. Don Enrique grabs the dagger and inadvertently wounds the king in his hand. The king accuses the prince that he is attempting on his life, don Enrique leaves the king’s palace to retire into exile
Don Gutierre decides to put his wife to death, for she dishonored his honor, but he must do it secretly, in accordance with the unwritten laws of honor, for the insult was also done secretly so that people would not have guessed how Don Manzia died. Unable to bear the death of his wife, he asks heaven to send him death. To the bottom of Mansia comes Prince Kokin sent with the news that don Enrique is in disgrace because of her and must leave the kingdom. In a foreign land, the prince will wither from grief and separation from Don Mencia. The departure of the prince will bring shame on Don Mansia, for everyone will begin to wonder what the reason for the prince’s flight is, and finally they will find out what it is. Jacinta suggests that the lady write a letter to the prince so that he does not leave and disgrace her name. Donja Mencia sits down to write a letter. At this time, Don Gutierre appears, Jacinta rushes to warn the lady, but the owner tells her to leave. He pushes the door to the room and sees Don Mancia, who writes a letter, walks up to her and rips out a sheet from her. Donja Mansia is deprived of feelings, her husband reads the letter and decides, having sent the servant, to kill his wife. He writes some words on the same sheet and leaves. Donja Mansia wakes up and reads her sentence on a piece of paper; “Love worships you, honor hates you; one brings death to you, the other prepares you for it. You have two hours to live. You are a Christian: save the soul, for the bodies cannot be saved. ”
Don Gutierre invites the surgeon Ludovico to let his wife bleed and wait until all of it flows out and death occurs. In case of refusal, Don Gutierre threatens the doctor with death. He then wants to assure everyone that “because of the sudden ailment, Mansia had to bleed blood and that she inadvertently moved the bandages. Who sees the crime in this? ” And he is going to take the doctor away from home and finish off on the street. “He who heals his honor without hesitation will open the blood ... for all ailments are treated with blood,” says Don Gutierre.
Down the street in Seville, Don Gutierre is led by Ludovico, who is blindfolded. To meet them go the king and Don Diego. Don Gutierre runs away. The king removes the blindfold from Ludovico's face, and he tells how a woman died whose face he did not see, but he heard her say that she was dying innocently. Ludovico stained his hands with blood and left a mark on the door of the house.
The king goes to the house of don Gutierre, for he guesses about whose death we are talking. Kokin appears and also tells the king how Don Gutierre locked his wife at home and sent away all the servants. At the house, the king meets Don Leonora, he remembers that he promised to save her from shame, and says that he will do it as soon as possible. Don Gutierre rushes out of the house with a cry and tells the king how his wife died from blood loss after she removed the bandages from the cuts in a dream. The king understands that don Gutierre is deceiving him, but in what happened, he sees an opportunity to fulfill his promise to donja Leonore. The king invites don Gutierre to marry doña Leonora. He objects, saying that she can cheat on him. The king replies that then it is necessary to bleed her, thereby making don Gutierre understand that he knows everything and he justifies what he did. Donja Leonora agrees to become the wife of Don Gutierre and, if necessary, “be treated” with his medicine.
