 Don Alvaro, father of Chiara and Serafina, is a sea captain who was captured by pirates while sailing with Chiara from Cadiz to Mallorca; for ten years he has been a slave.Don Fernando is secretly his enemy, and has engineered things so that his disappearance appears to be treason, for which he has been convicted "in absentia".He has had himself named Serafina's guardian; now she has grown older and more attractive, he plans to marry her for her fortune.