The book narrates the return of the protagonist of Noli Me Tangere, Crisostomo Ibarra, under the guise of a wealthy jeweler named Simoun. Disillusioned by the abuses of the Spanish, Ibarra abandons his pacifist beliefs in order to return to the Philippines and start a violent revolution. Noli Me Tangere's Basilio, now a young man and a skilled medical student, is recruited by Ibarra to aid him in detonating a bomb at a social gathering, signalling the beginning of a revolution. However, Basilio warns his friend Isagani of the plot. Realizing that the woman he loves is in the building, Isagani throws the bomb into the river, averting the explosion and the revolution. I mplicated in these matters, Simoun commits suicide by taking poison, and finds a final resting place at the home of a priest, Father Florentino, who hears his last confession and assures him that not all hope is lost. The priest, upon Simoun's death, commends the jewels into the sea, remarking that the jewels, once used to bribe and corrupt people, would one day be hopefully found to be used for a meaningful purpose.
