The story begins when Juan, a young history teacher, finds some ancient manuscripts in a hidden cupboard in his house in Almonacid de la Sierra (Zaragoza). The books seem to be written in Arabic, but after trying to read some pages he realises that they are in fact “aljamiados” - texts written in Spanish but with Arabic letters.

One of the books tells the story of a family in the village that was expelled in 1609. Encouraged by his grandfather, Juan decides to investigate the story further, and to do so he seeks the collaboration of experts in the field.

The journal relates what happened in the summer of 1609, and the vicissitudes that members of the Aziz family, who had deep roots in Almonacid, were forced to endure. They discovered how, overnight, their life changed course: from being a humble family of labourers, they come to feel like strangers in their own land, and are forced to flee into exile.

They make a long journey under the custody of a Captain Larrasoana, until they reach the port of Los Alfaques, where they embark for Tunisia with hundreds of Moriscos. Before they set sail, the Aziz family leave their younger son, a sickly boy, in the care of Captain Larrasoana, with whom they have formed a strong friendship. As they make their farewells, the grandfather hands his journal to the captain, requesting that he keep it for his grandson until he is grown-up, so that he should forget neither his origins nor the people who had to leave him behind.

At sunset, the Aziz family abandon Spain for an uncertain future.

Juan, our young historian, after conversing with various experts, and researching into the Spanish aspect of the tale, decides to travel to Tunisia. It seemed that a great number of exiles were taken to these lands and he wants to delve deeper into their history.

In Tunisia, he discovers the kind of welcome extended by the Tunisians to the Moriscos, and the consequences of that immigration. And he is surprised to discover that even today there are still families who are descended from those who were expelled. These discoveries lead him to visit Testur, a town created to receive Moriscos. There he finds more traces of the past, and talks to those descendents of Spaniards.

On his return to Spain, Juan goes over everything he’s found out with his grandfather. The question that’s been going round his head since his journey to Tunisia emerges from his lips, and the answer he receives from his grandfather is a smile, one of those smiles that says nothing, and says everything.