When newly-wed Angela Vicario and Bayardo San Roman are left to their wedding night, Bayardo discovers that his new wife is no virgin. Disgusted, he returns Angela to her family home, where her humiliated mother beats her and her brothers demand to know her violator, whom she names as Santiago Nasar. With Angela's brothers set on avenging their family honour, soon the whole town knows who they plan to kill, where, when and why.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold is re-issued on Gabriel García Márquez 's birthday to celebrate the publication of his books as ebooks for the first time.