The Characters from El Filibusterismo were draw by Rizal from real life – Padre Florentino was Father

Leoncio Lopez – Isagani ws Vicente Ilustre – Paulita Gomez was Leonor Rivera.

In the events of the previous novel, Crisóstomo Ibarra, a reform-minded mestizo who tried to establish a
modern school in his hometown of San Diego and marry his childhood sweetheart, was falsely accused
of rebellion and presumed dead after a shootout following his escape from prison. Elías, his friend who
was also a reformer, sacrificed his life to give Crisóstomo a chance to regain his treasure and flee the
country, and hopefully continue their crusade for reforms from abroad. After a thirteen-year absence
from the country, a more revolutionary Crisóstomo has returned, having taken the identity of Simoun, a
corrupt jeweler whose objective is to drive the government to commit as much abuse as possible in
order to drive people into revolution.

Simoun goes from town to town presumably to sell his jewels. In San Diego, he goes to the Ibarra
mausoleum to retrieve more of his treasure but accidentally runs into Basilio, who was then also in the
mausoleum visiting his mother's grave. In the years since the death of his mother, Basilio had been
serving as Kapitán Tiago's servant in exchange for being allowed to study. He is now an aspiring doctor
on his last year at university as well as heir to Kapitán Tiago's wealth. When Basilio recognizes Simoun as
Crisóstomo Ibarra, Simoun reveals his motives to Basilio and offers him a place in his plans. Too secure
of his place in the world, Basilio declines.

At Barrio Sagpang in the town of Tiani, Simoun stays at the house of the village's cabeza de barangay,
Tales. Having suffered misfortune after misfortune in recent years, Kabesang Tales is unable to resist the
temptation to steal Simoun's revolver and join the bandits.

In Los Baños, Simoun joins his friend, the Captain-General, who is then taking a break from a hunting
excursion. In a friendly game of cards with him and his cronies, Simoun raises the stakes higher and
higher and half-jokingly secures blank orders for deportation, imprisonment, and summary execution
from the Captain-General.

At the Quiapo Fair in Manila, a talking heads exhibit ostensibly organized by a certain Mr. Leeds but
secretly commissioned by Simoun is drawing popular acclaim. Padre Bernardo Salví, now chaplain of the
Convent of the Poor Clares, attends one of the performances. The exhibit is set in Ptolemaic Egypt but
features a tale that closely resembled that of Crisóstomo Ibarra, María Clara, their fate under Salví, and
ends with an ominous vow of revenge. Deeply overcome with fear and guilt, Salví has the show banned,
but not before Mr. Leeds has already sailed for Hong Kong.

Simoun meets with Quiroga, a wealthy Chinese businessman and aspiring consul-general for the Chinese
empire. Quiroga is heavily in Simoun's debt, but Simoun offers him a steep discount if Quiroga does him
a favor—to store Simoun's massive arsenal of rifles in Quiroga's warehouses, to be used presumably for
extortion activities with Manila's elite. Quiroga, who hated guns, reluctantly obliges.

Months have passed and the night of Simoun's revolution arrives. Simoun visits Basilio in Tiago's house
and gives him one last offer to join his revolution. Simoun's plan is for a cannon volley to be fired, at
which point Kabesang Tales, now a bandit who calls himself Matanglawin, and Simoun who managed to
deceive and recruit a sizable rogue force among the government troops, will lead their forces into the
city. The leaders of the Church, the University, scores of bureaucrats, the Captain-General himself, as
well as the bulk of government troops guarding them are conveniently in one location, the theater
where a controversial and much-hyped performance of Les Cloches de Corneville is taking place. While
Simoun and Matanglawin direct their forces, Basilio and several others are to force open the door of the
Convent of the Poor Clares and rescue María Clara.

However, Basilio reports to Simoun that María Clara died just that afternoon, killed by the travails of
monastic life under Salví, who always lusted after her. Simoun, driven by grief, is distracted and
crestfallen throughout the night. It will be reported later on that he suffered an "accident" that night,
leaving him confined to his bed. His revolution is aborted.

The following day posters threatening violence to the leaders of the university and the government are
found at the university doors. A reform-oriented student group to which Basilio belonged is named the
primary suspects; the members are arrested. They are eventually freed through the intercession of
relatives, except for Basilio who is an orphan and has no means to pay for his freedom. During his
imprisonment, he learns that Capitan Tiago has died, leaving him nothing (but Tiago's last will was
actually altered by Padre Írene, Tiago's spiritual advisor who also supplies him with opium); his
childhood sweetheart has committed suicide to avoid getting raped by the parish priest when she tried
to approach him on Basilio's behalf; and that he has missed his graduation and will be required to study
for another year, but now with no funds to go by. Released through the intercession of Simoun, a
darkened, disillusioned Basilio joins Simoun's cause wholeheartedly.

Simoun, meanwhile, has been organizing a new revolution, and he reveals his plans to a now committed
Basilio. He will use the wedding of Juanito Peláez and Paulita Gomez to coordinate the attack upon the
city. As the Peláez and Gomez families are prominent members of the Manila elite, leaders of the church
and civil government are invited to the reception. The Captain-General, who declined to extend his
tenure despite Simoun's urging, is leaving in two days and is the guest of honor.

Simoun will personally deliver a pomegranate-shaped crystal lamp as a wedding gift. The lamp is to be
placed on a plinth at the reception venue and will be bright enough to illuminate the entire hall, which
was also walled with mirrors. After some time the light will flicker as if to go out. When someone
attempts to raise the wick, a mechanism hidden within the lamp containing fulminated mercury will
detonate, igniting the lamp which is actually filled with nitroglycerin, killing everyone in an enormous
blast.

At the sound of the explosion, Simoun's mercenaries will attack, reinforced by Matanglawin and his
bandits who will descend upon the city from the surrounding hills. Simoun postulates that at the chaos,
the masses, already worked to a panic by the government's heavy-handed response to the poster
incident, as well as rumors that German ships are at the bay to finish what the revolution fails to
destroy, will step out in desperation to kill or be killed. Basilio and a few others are to put themselves at
their head and lead them to Quiroga's warehouses, where Simoun's guns are still being kept. The plan
thus finalized, Simoun gives Basilio a loaded revolver and sends him away to await further instructions.

Basilio walks the streets for hours and passes by his old home, Kapitán Tiago's riverside house on
Anloague Street. He discovers that this was to be the reception venue – Juanito Peláez's father bought
Tiago's house as a gift for the newlywed couple. Sometime later, he sees Simoun enter the house with
the lamp, then hastily exit the house and board his carriage. Basilio begins to move away but sees
Isagani, his friend and Paulita Gomez's former lover, sadly looking at Paulita through the window. Noting
how close they were to the condemned house, Basilio tries to head Isagani off, but the young man was
too dazed with grief to listen to him. In desperation, Basilio reveals to Isagani how the house is set to
explode at any time then, but when Isagani still refuses to heed him, Basilio flees, leaving Isagani to his
fate.

Isagani is temporarily, rather belatedly unnerved by Basilio's revelation. Isagani runs into the house,
seizes the lamp leaving the hall in darkness, and throws it into the river. With the house not exploding
and the church and government authorities having been spared, Simoun's second revolution is aborted
as well.

In the following days, as the trappings at the reception venue are torn down, sacks containing
gunpowder are discovered hidden under the boards all over the house. Simoun, who had directed the
renovations, is exposed. His friend, the Captain-General, having left for Spain, Simoun, without his
protector, is forced to flee. A manhunt ensues and Simoun is chased as far away as the shores of the
Pacific. He then spends the rest of his days hiding in the ancestral mansion of Padre Florentino, Isagani's
uncle.

One day, the lieutenant of the local Guardia Civil informs Florentino that he received an order to arrest
Simoun that night. In response, Simoun drinks the slow-acting poison which he always kept in a
compartment in his treasure chest. Before dying, Simoun makes his final confession to Florentino.
Simoun reveals his true name, to Florentino's shock. He then goes on to narrate how thirteen years
before, as Crisóstomo Ibarra, he lost everything in the Philippines despite his good intentions.
Crisóstomo swore vengeance. Retrieving the treasure buried beneath the Ibarra mausoleum in the
forest, Crisóstomo fled to foreign lands and engaged in trade. He took part in the war in Cuba, aiding
first one side and then another, but always profiting. There Crisóstomo met the Captain-General, who
was then a major, whose goodwill he won first by loans of money, and afterwards by covering for his
criminal activity. Crisóstomo bribed his way to secure the major's promotion to Captain-General and his
assignment to the Philippines. Once in the country, Crisóstomo then used him as a blind tool and incited
him to all kinds of injustice, availing himself of the Captain-General's insatiable lust for gold.

The confession is long and arduous, and night has fallen before Crisóstomo has finished. In the end,
Florentino assures Crisóstomo of God's mercy, but explains that his revolution failed because he has
chosen means that God cannot sanction. Crisóstomo bitterly accepts the explanation. After a while, he
dies in silence.

Realizing that the arresting officers will confiscate Crisóstomo's possessions, Florentino divests him of his
jewels and casts them into the Pacific, proclaiming that if they should be needed for some righteous
cause, God will provide the means to draw them out. For the time being, hidden under the sea, they will
not be used to distort justice or to incite greed.