An archeological excavation in Salamanca finds a small cave with several treasures and paintings from the year 1520... and, surprisingly, a mobile phone (obviously, not from the 16th century) that has obviously been there staying for centuries.
Warned about a dangerous breach of the secret, the Ministry of Time sets out to investigate the new situation, and finds out that the mobile phone belonged to Alberto Díaz Bueno, founder of a consulting firm who was arrested for fraud but escaped and disappeared two years before, on permission, and he seemed to be in contact with Lola Mendieta. Knowing that the Revolt of the Comuneros
will take place in a few months, Díaz Bueno must be taken in and arrested before it is too late: Salvador sends Alonso, Amelia and Julián (dressed like a student from the University of Salamanca) in this task.
The time door takes the trio to an abandoned church's confessional, a few kilometers away from Salamanca, and they start walking to the city. On the way, they see a young man pulling a cart being attacked by two noblemen, and Alonso, unwilling to let this go, charges at them, shouting "¡Por Santiago y por España!", handily beating the crap out of them and forcing the two to run away. The young man, grateful, offers to share his cart to go to Salamanca, presenting himself as Lázaro: as he reveals more about his life, Amelia and Julián realize, amazed, that he is the actual Lazarillo de Tormes, the main character of the book.
However, Lázaro does not want to enter Salamanca until night falls, but invites the trio to watch his one-man play. Armed with a portrait of Díaz Bueno (made by Velázquez, of course), the three begin to ask around in order to find out if someone has seen the man. Indeed, many seem to have seen him, as everyone seems to be scared about the man, and in the end a monk, Fray Juan, reveals the truth: Díaz Bueno is the city's chief magistrate, and has been fleecing the people of Salamanca with the excuse of taxes.
Lázaro's play is quite insulting toward the King (Carlos I of Spain), something that offends Alonso's monarchical sensitivities, but right on time Díaz Bueno's mooks arrive to the inn where the play is taking place, seeking the trio: Lázaro protects the trio and ends up arrested, while Alonso, Amelia and Julián are saved by Fray Juan. Alonso becomes surprised when he learns the monk also lacks any loyalty for the King, but the monk replies that it is hard to be loyal to a king that has no knowledge of Spanish and gives all important positions to his men of Flanders. Fray Juan also tells them that Lázaro might end up killed for what he has done.
Now, the trio has a problem: do they save young Lázaro? Alonso is not swayed by Amelia's and Julián's words about the importance of the Lazarillo de Tormes in Spanish culture, naively saying that, perhaps, without that novel, there will be less criminals around. In the end Amelia pulls out her card as team leader: they have to preserve all of Spain's history, and that includes saving Lázaro from being killed.
In the meantime, Lola Mendieta has learned that Díaz Bueno is still alive (she had been helping him earn money with antiquities, but he had then faked his death to stay in the past) and goes to confront him, planning to give him up to the Ministry - she does not agree with his plan of staying in the past for his own benefit. However, Díaz Bueno ends up knocking her out and sending her to the same jail as Lázaro.
The next day, Fray Juan tells the trio that a wagon with prisoners is being taken out of the city: the three ambush the wagon. Unfortunately for them, Lázaro is not one of the prisoners... but Lola is. Salvador, upon learning of the situation, tells the trio to return to the church, so Ernesto can take Lola back to the Ministry and they can finish their mission. However, when they arrive to the church, the confessional has gone missing: a couple of students have stolen it. While they stop for a while to rest, Ernesto comes out of the confessional. One of the students goes through the confessional and finds himself in the Ministry... entering just as two agents pass by, dressed as demons - they were at the Carnaval of Cádiz. Thinking it is a gate to Hell - and Ernesto a demon - the students burn the gate and attempt to burn Ernesto.
The trio arrives right on time to save Ernesto, but the gate has been destroyed. Lola reveals that there is an unofficial gate through which she took Díaz Bueno to the past, and offers them a deal: if they let her go, she will tell them where the other gate is. With little choice, they accept. Learning that Lázaro will be killed on the following day, a day in which normally priests and monks are allowed to tell their grievances and that of the people to the King, the trio immediately realizes it is a trap. However, Julián has an idea, for which he needs the gate.
The following day, while everything is being prepared for Lázaro's execution, Julián, Ernesto and the monk appear, with the latter exposing his grievances in order to stop the execution. When Díaz Bueno tries to claim that, since his power comes from the King and the King's power comes from God, no one can argue against him, Julián replies someone can: God himself. Julián then calls for God to punish the true guilty party with an invisible lightning... and Díaz Bueno drops. While Fray Juan claims it is a miracle - and more of Díaz Bueno's mooks drop, Julián rapidly approaches the fallen and grabs something from them: the cause is Alonso, who has used a rifle with tranquilizing darts to knock the men out. Lázaro is freed, and the team can return to the future.
While Lola is allowed to run away (with a Mercy Lead of 30 minutes), the trio say goodbye to Lázaro, and Amelia suggests him to write down his adventures. Soon, Lázaro and Fray Juan begin to discuss the idea... and they consider writing the book anonymously, to avoid the trouble that would come when it became published.
Back in the Ministry, Salvador congratulates them for their successful mission and tells them Díaz Bueno has been committed to a mental hospital for his "delusions" of being Salamanca's chief magistrate, before showing them a chapter of the Lazarillo de Tormes the Ministry had to censor, where Lázaro speaks about Alonso, Amelia and Julián, praising and thanking them for their role in their life.
The episode's Plot B moves around Irene, whom Salvador has requested speak with Walcott, imprisoned in the Ministry's jail in 1053's Huesca: the fact that Walcott (and whoever he works for) can travel across time with a much greater precision than the Ministry is worrying. Irene, though, is not happy, because there is someone else imprisoned in there that she thinks should not be there: Armando Leiva, her mentor in the Ministry. Nonetheless, Irene travels to 1053 and proceeds to give Walcott some food (a drink and a burger). When Walcott continues to claim that he will not speak, Irene reveals to him that the hamburger was poisoned, and only she has the antidote, which she will not give up without a few answers.
While Walcott thinks it over, Irene meets Leiva, who is in awful condition from the long time he has spent there. After updating each other (and revealing that the reason Leiva was imprisoned was related with the fact that he tried to take his son, who suffered from leukemia, to the 20th century), Leiva asks her to find out who betrayed him - something that becomes important in the next chapter.
A now less arrogant Walcott is more than willing to share what information he can to survive: he works for Darrow Ltd, a company that managed to create a nuclear-powered machine that opens a tunnel through time. While they initially considered to use it for tourism, they soon realized the potential it had for doing jobs to change history for this or that client - a very dangerous affair. Later, after a talk with Angustias and another with Salvador, Irene returns to 1053 to give Leiva some pills for his illness.
Not everything is going on well, though: Salvador receives the visit of Susana Torres, the liaison between the Ministry and the Government, and a woman Salvador outright dislikes, if not hates. Torres demands Walcott's release, a demand that comes from the US ambassador: turns out that, when they were researching Walcott, the US government found out and discovered the man's disappearance. Salvador complains about it (and the fact that Walcott was trying to "steal" the Guernica) but Torres tells him there is no choice.
Irene complains to Salvador about the unfairness of the situation (Walcott getting scott free while Leiva is still in prison), and Salvador decides to set Leiva free... but it turns out Leiva seems to have died. Or has he?
