Bayardo San Roman appears in town in August with silver‑trimmed saddlebags, striking looks, and a cloud of rumors about his past. He dispels the gossip by arriving with his whole family – General Petronio San Roman, his mulatto mother Alberta Simonds, and two flamboyant sisters – in a Model‑T. He quickly fixes his sights on the youngest Vicario daughter, Angela, first meeting her at a charity bazaar where he wins, then returns, the music‑box raffle prize. The twins, Pedro and Pablo, retrieve the box for the family, cementing Bayardo’s acceptance as a suitor despite Angela’s objections.

Determined to secure Angela’s hand, Bayardo purchases the widower Xius’s house, first offering an “empty” sale, then escalating to a cash offer of ten thousand pesos after a tense domino game, a transaction that precedes the widower’s death two months later. The wedding becomes a town‑wide spectacle: the San Roman family arrives on a ceremonial boat; gifts pour in, including a convertible, a gold dinner set, a ballet troupe and multiple orchestras. The modest Vicario house is painted, expanded, and its pigsty scrubbed with quicklime to accommodate the guests.

During the festivities Santiago Nasar, his friend Cristo Bedoya and other childhood companions mingle with the newlyweds. Santiago obsessively calculates the wedding’s cost, arriving at roughly nine thousand pesos, a figure Bayardo later boasts will double. His calculations prove correct.

After the formal celebrations end, Bayardo returns home with a disheveled, towel‑clad Angela. He pushes her into the house, kisses mother‑in‑law Pura Vicario, and departs without speaking. In the early morning the Vicario twins find Angela bruised on the dining‑room couch. When they confront her, she names her attacker: Santiago Nasar. This confession ignites the twins’ vow of revenge, setting the stage for the murder that will dominate the remainder of the narrative.