The bridegroom is preparing to go off and work in the vineyards, planning to eat some grapes instead of his mother's cooking. He asks her for a knife to cut the vines with, which causes his mother to ramble about her dead husband and son, and the anger she feels for the ones that killed them, and her concern for the bridegroom's safety. The bridegroom distracts her attention by talking about the girl he is going to marry. The mother does not know the girl but agrees to go with her son to meet the girl. The bridegroom leaves after promising his mother happiness with grandchildren. A neighbor then comes to visit the mother, and she questions the neighbor about her son's bride-to-be. The neighbor reveals that the bride's mother did not love her husband, and also that the bride used to be the girlfriend of Leonardo Felix, a member of the family which killed the mother's husband and son. The neighbor leaves, and the mother tries to put her fears to the back of her mind.
             Takes place in the house of Leonardo. His wife is knitting, and her mother is holding the baby, whilst they both try to get the child asleep with a lullaby. Once the lullaby is over, Leonardo enters, having returned from having his horse's shoes replaced at the blacksmiths. His wife tells him the neighbors had seen him recently far away in the drylands, and that she has noticed the horse is terribly exhausted. Leonardo denies such things but is challenged by his mother-in-law who says that the horse is looking half-dead now. The wife then reveals that her cousin, the bride, is to be married in the next month, and they are likely to be invited to the ceremony. Leonardo is unhappy when the mother-in-law brings up the bride being his ex-girlfriend, and when a girl enters describing the presents the bridegroom and his mother got the bride. The girl leaves, and Leonardo exits in an angered manner. The mother-in-law and wife are left singing the child back to sleep.
             Set in t...