The play is set in
Portugal under Spanish dominion, many years after the disastrous
Battle of Ksar el-Kebir that cost Portugal its independence. The body of the Portuguese king,
Sebastian of Portugal, was never recovered, nor was that of nobleman Dom João de Portugal, of the important
House of Vimioso. Madalena de Vilhena, Dom João de Portugal's widow, has since married
Manuel de Sousa Coutinho, a chivalrous knight of the
Order of Malta. The two lead a virtuous and happy existence, along with their frail young daughter, Maria de Noronha, perturbed only by the silent reproach of a loyal servant, Telmo Pais, the only one who still believes that his former master is alive and shall one day return. Madalena has since grown anguished that the possibility of Dom João's return would mean her second marriage is
bigamous, void, and that her daughter Maria is
illegitimate. (
Chiado Museum) They live in Manuel de Sousa Coutinho's elegant palace in
Almada, and receive word that the Spanish governors, driven from a
plague-devastated
Lisbon, have decided to move their quarters to the residence: appalled by this arbitrary resolution and in a fit of patriotism, Manuel de Sousa Coutinho sets fire to his own house. While they abandon the ablaze palace, Madalena watches as a portrait of Manuel is consumed by the flames. The circumstances dictate the family is now forced to live in the old, uninhabited palace that used to belong to Madalena's first husband, Dom João de Portugal. The gallery of the old palace is dominated by a portrait of Dom João besides another of
King Sebastian — which Madalena interprets as a grave omen. While Maria and Manuel de Sousa Coutinho are away, Madalena is being settled by her brother-in-law, Frei Jorge, when they receive the visit of an old pilgrim from the
Holy Land: he tells them that he was kept in captivity for many years and that he knows for a fact that Dom João is still alive. When asked who he is, the pilgrim replies "
No one" as he points to Dom João's portrait. Deathly ashamed, Madalena and Manuel de Sousa decide that the only solution was for them to go their separate ways and each join a convent. Telmo Pais tells the pilgrim, who he recognises as Dom João, about the frail young Maria de Noronha, and the old nobleman regrets his mere presence causes the family such distress and is covering the woman he loved in dishonour: he bids Telmo to go and tell them all that the pilgrim was a fraud, but it is too late — the play concludes as Manuel de Sousa (now, Brother Luís de Sousa) and Madalena take their solemn vows to live cloistered monastic lives. The now-orphaned Maria de Noronha interrupts the ceremony in an emotional and feverish speech about how the social mores have torn their family apart before she succumbs to
consumption. ==History==