King Alfonso VI is very angry with El Cid, primarily because he made the King swear by Santa Gadea that he had not ordered his own brother's murder. El Cid marries the King's cousin, Dona Ximena, but this has not restored him to favor and he is forced to flee Castile, his home country.Shortly before he is exiled, he is accused of stealing some of the monies paid to the King by the Moors. He puts his wife and their two daughters in the Monastery of Cardena, for safety.
In exile, in an attempt to restore his good name, he fights against the Moorish armies in Valencia. defeating King Yusuf ibn Tashfin of Almoravia. Honor restored, his daughters are given permission to marry the King's nephews.
After conquering Valencia, El Cid sends for his family to live with him whist they are there El Cid learns that the princes are his enemies; it was they who engineered his exile in the first place. The only reason they want to marry his daughters is so that they can steal some of his fortune. The King pardons Cid, and gives permission for the marriages. El Cid is wary and feels that the marriages are a mistake, and that something bad will happen because of them; he nonetheless allows them to happen.
The infante princes are shamed and shown up as cowards when they run away from a lion roaming the court, and further when they run away from a battle against the Moors. They are furious that they have been publicly shamed by El Cid and his men; they vow to get their revenge. This revenge involves beating their wives to within an inch of their lives and leaving them for dead at the side of a roadway. El Cid again has to ask the King for justice, and the princes, who have fled, are forced to come back face El Cid in a duel. They lose quickly and are shamed again.
During the duel, El Cid receives word from the kings o Navarra and Aragon. Both men want their sons to marry El Cid's daughters. These marriages start to unify the fractured states of Spain.
