In 19th-century Mexico, Dr. Manuel Fuentes Guerra inherits a fortune from the father who never wanted to recognize him as his son. Now a gentleman millionaire, the doctor looks for an appropriate wife. He decides to course Matilde Penalver y Beristain, the daughter of an aristocratic family whose fortune has waned; Matilde is secretly promised to military official Adolfo Solis. Matilde's mother Augusta has Adolfo jailed, and Matilde's brother Humberto contracts a woman to fake to being Adolfo's in front of Matilde. Now Augusta obligates her daughter to marry Manuel. Adolfo escapes from jail, but not in time to prevent the wedding. But Matilde discovers the trap that her family had put on her and suspects that her husband had something to do with it. She decides to abandon him after the wedding, but he finds her and takes her by force to his ranch where he subjects her to various physical and moral vexations. A disguised Adolfo reaches the ranch and Manuel hires him to be the administrator of both his ranches and shows great confidence in him. Matilde comes to discover that her husband has many virtues and she gradually falls in love with him. But the newlyweds' happiness fades when the doctor discovers that his administrator is his wife's ex-boyfriend. To Matilde will come her husband's repudiation, expulsion from her home and public shame: she's pregnant and Manuel doesn't want to recognize his child.