At the beginning of the story Fiesco is the Doge of Genoa. He has a daughter Maria. Maria has fallen in love with Simon Boccanegra who is a plebeian, so he would not be important enough to be allowed to marry her, even though he has become a hero because he has fought lots of pirates. Simon and Maria had a child, a young girl. After she was born she was given to an old woman to look after, but one day the old woman died and the small child wandered off alone. She was found wandering by the sea shore by Count Grimaldi who took her and looked after her as if she were his own child.