In the mid-19th century, in a time of Victorian morality, challenging the rules of the aristocracy to which she belongs, the lovely Matilde Peñalver y Beristáin, falls in love with Adolfo Solís, an army soldier with no fortune; trusting that her father, Hilario - a fair and kind man - will let her marry him. But her mother, Augusta, is determined to force Matilde to marry a rich man in order to save the family from bankruptcy. Manuel Fuentes Guerra is the perfect candidate. He is an honorable and handsome young man who has just inherited a vast fortune. Augusta ignores the fact that Manuel is the illegitimate son of Joaquín Fuentes Guerra, a powerful landlord who raped a poor native girl, and who only recognized Manuel as his heir on his deathbed.