Synopsis of the Noli

Crisóstomo Ibarra, the mestizo son of the recently deceased Don Rafael Ibarra, is returning to San Diego
in Laguna after seven years of study in Europe. Kapitán Tiago, a family friend, bids him to spend his first
night in Manila where Tiago hosts a reunion party at his riverside home on Anloague Street. Crisóstomo
obliges. At dinner he encounters old friends, Manila high society, and Padre Dámaso, San Diego's old
curate at the time Ibarra left for Europe. Dámaso treats Crisóstomo with hostility, surprising the young
man who took the friar to be a friend of his father.
Crisóstomo excuses himself early and is making his way back to his hotel when Lieutenant Guevarra,
another friend of his father, catches up with him. As the two of them walk to Crisóstomo's stop, and
away from the socialites at the party who may possibly compromise them if they heard, Guevarra
reveals to the young man the events leading up to Rafael's death and Dámaso's role in it. Crisóstomo,
who has been grieving from the time he learned of his father's death, decides to forgive and not seek
revenge. Guevarra nevertheless warns the young man to be careful.
The following day, Crisóstomo returns to Kapitán Tiago's home in order to meet with his childhood
sweetheart, Tiago's daughter María Clara. The two flirt and reminisce in the azotea, a porch overlooking
the river. María reads back to Crisóstomo his farewell letter wherein he explained to her Rafael's wish
for Crisóstomo to set out, to study in order to become a more useful citizen of the country. Seeing
Crisóstomo agitated at the mention of his father, however, María playfully excuses herself, promising to
see him again at her family's San Diego home during the town fiesta.
Crisóstomo goes to the town cemetery upon reaching San Diego to visit his father's grave. However, he
learns from the gravedigger that the town curate had ordered that Rafael's remains be exhumed and
transferred to a Chinese cemetery. At this revelation, Crisóstomo's anger explodes, but the gravedigger
confesses that on the night he dug up the corpse, it was raining hard and he feared for his own soul, so
defying the order of the priest, he instead threw the body into the lake. At that moment, Padre
Bernardo Salví, the new curate of San Diego, walks into the cemetery. Crisóstomo shoves him into the
ground and demands an accounting, but Salví fearfully tells Crisóstomo that the transfer was ordered by
the previous curate, Padre Dámaso. Crisóstomo leaves in consternation.
But Crisóstomo, committed to his patriotic endeavors, is determined not to seek revenge and to put the
matter behind him. As the days progress he carries out his plan to serve his country as his father
wanted. He intends to use his family wealth to build a school, believing that his paisanos would benefit
from a more modern education than what is offered in the schools run by the government, whose
curriculum was heavily tempered by the teachings of the friars.