The action of the opera is haunted by two fathers who have died before it begins. Roggero and Duncalmo were neighboring lords, and had been friends and companions in arms. But the latter, covetous of the former’s lands, murdered his comrade in secret and arranged for the blame to fall on Roggero’s own son Edemondo.

The guilt-ridden patriarch confessed on his deathbed to his own son and heir Norcesto. But Norcesto, stricken with shame for his father’s crime, has chosen to conceal the confession. 

Edemondo has fled into exile, leaving behind his wife Anna and their infant son Elvino. Anna has gone into hiding, leaving the child to be raised as an unknown orphan by a local landholder Olfredo, and disguising herself as a peasant (“Egilda”) to be near him. All the foregoing is explained in the preface to the published libretto, and is revealed gradually in dialogue during the opera.