A free black man named Jack Holten (played by Philip Michael Thomas) is eating lunch at Victoria's tavern. When two of the alcalde's guards start harassing him because of his race, Jack punches one of them. He is then imprisoned in the town jail for assaulting a soldier of Spain. The alcalde takes Jack's papers that prove he is free and plans to sell him to a U.S. plantation. Don Digeo and Don Alejandro know that the alcalde cannot resist a friendly wager, so they make a bet that if Jack beats the alcalde's best guard in a boxing bout, then he wins his freedom.