Magdalena, daughter of Don Nuño Manso de Jarama, is in love with Don Mendo, a poor nobleman with whom she has secret relationship. The young woman's father decides to marry her off to a rich private of the King, Don Pero. She, who wants to rise socially, accepts without saying anything to Mendo or Pero, so when the latter discovers them, Mendo incriminates himself of theft and ends up imprisoned and condemned to death. A friend of his, the Marquis of Moncada, rescues him, giving him the opportunity to carry out his revenge.

The play belongs to the minor comic genre that only aims to make people laugh at all costs, seeking only and exclusively the joke and in which puns and humorous twist abound.

It was first performed in Madrid in 1918 and its success was so great that today it is the fourth most performed play of all times in Spain.