The action takes place in 1850-1853. The choir begins the story of the glorious robber Joaquin Muriet, whose ghost still hovers over California, a free Chilean who died in a foreign land. Boy newspaper men shouting news: California has a gold rush. Drawn by a distant mirage, crowds of people flock to the port of Valparaiso from all over the country, eager to go to the fertile land, where they live hearty and warm. A brigantine is being built on the stage, sails are being raised. Customs officer Adalberto Reyes requires a bunch of all kinds of certificates from Juan Three-fingered, but it is not difficult for a former miner to get a zealous servant to sail along with everyone in California to mine gold. Three-fingered accompanies Joaquin Murieta, in which he is for the uncle and guide. This young man is kneading a leader, he now explains to a former customs officer. Together with Joaquin, he still shared the poor fate, the poor bread and the poor cuffs.
The choir tells how horse rider Joaquin Murieta lassoed the peasant woman Teresa during a trip along the sea. Immediately on the ship, their wedding takes place.
While there is a wild revelry on the deck, and rude fun is like a blind death call, from the porthole of the cabin you can hear the love dialogue of the newlyweds, absorbed in their happiness. (Murjeta will not appear on the stage during the performance, only his silhouette or profile is shown, facing the horizon.Teresa will remain an invisible character.)
Panorama of San Francisco in 1850. Chileans were the first to come into the world of wealth, naughty money, says the choir. In the tavern "Zavarukha" there was almost a clash of Latinos who came to work, including Reyes and Trekhpaly, and rangers in Texas hats armed with revolvers, but this time without bloodshed.
When the yanked Yankees finally get away, a black-and-white Horseman appears with the news that two dozen Chileans and several Mexicans killed Sacramento, and all because the Yankees treat them like blacks and do not want to recognize their rights. However, visitors do not grieve for long, the revelry continues, carols perform, demonstrate striptease. Caballero the fraudster fools customers with magic tricks with a hat, but here they meet the Singers, and visitors are forced to put their watches and chains in the hat. After collecting the prey, the magician disappears, then the deceived catch themselves and are going to catch up and teach the rogue a lesson. But a group of hoodies appears, brandishing revolvers, they beat those present, smashing the tavern.
When it's over, one of the hijackers throws off the cloak, this is Caballero a scammer who pays with stolen things at hand. The choir describes the hard hard work that Murieta does. Joaquin wants to get a lot of gold and, returning to his homeland, to distribute it to the poor. But again, on the stage, a group of hoodies, planning to unleash terror against strangers.The white race is above all! Blond greyhounds from California, as they call themselves, organize attacks on the villages of prospectors. In one of these raids, thugs, including Caballero the con man, break into Murieta’s house, rape and kill Teresa. Returning from the mine, Joaquin swears over his wife’s lifeless body to avenge her and punish the killers. From this day, Joaquin becomes a robber.
Murieta, galloping on the horse of vengeance, keeps the whole district in fear, executes reprisals against white gringos, creating lawlessness and profiting from crimes. Reyes and Three-Fingers, like some other Chileans, decide to join the formidable robber, to pay retribution for the brothers' shed blood. Around the Joaquin gathers a squad of avengers.
Bandits led by Three-Fingered attack the stagecoach, in which seven passengers follow, among them women. They make reprisals against Caballero a scammer trying to hide bags of gold, they release the rest of the travelers, and distribute the gold to local residents. A group of Greyhounds stumbles upon Caballero a con man who, for the umpteenth time, comes out alive from an alteration. Outrageous: Muriet’s gang killed off the stagecoach passengers and took away the gold that they plundered with such difficulty. And the people glorify the intercessor and glorify his deeds.
The choir forms a semblance of a frieze on both sides of a modest grave and comments on the events of the tragic July evening. Murieta brings roses to his late wife, and the Greyhounds ambush the cemetery.Joaquin was unarmed, the choir sadly explains, they shot him, and then, in order not to rise again, they cut off his head.
The booth - this is the same Caballero crook - invites passers-by to the fair booth, where Murieta’s head is exposed in the cage.
People go in a never-ending string, and coins all flow into the bottomless pocket of a crook.
Women shame men: how could one leave the head of the person who punished them for punishment to the enemies, punishing the offenders.
Men decide to steal a head from a booth and bury about Teresa’s grave.
The funeral procession moves, Three-fingered and Reyes bear the head of Murieta. The head of the robber regrets that the whole truth about him will not reach the descendants. He did a lot of evil, although he did good deeds, but the inescapable longing for his murdered wife drove him to the earth, and his honor shone with a star.
Murieta lived courageously, ardently, but was doomed, the choir concludes. The ghost of a robber rebel jumps on a bright red horse between the past and fables.
