The year is 1838. Valentín de Avellaneda has been forced into exile in Uruguay with his wife and son by the blood-thirsty Argentine dictator, General Juan Manuel de Rosas, who has denounced him as a "Unitarian savage". As the fugitive tries to escort his family to a place of safety upriver, Rosas orders his capture and arrest and he is brought back to Buenos Aires, to stand trial as an enemy of the state . . .