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A group of friends
embark on a pleasure trip that ends in tragedy. Maria hears a shot, finds
her friend Patricia dead and, in her confusion, picks up the murder
weapon. She is accused of the crime and condemned to life in prison. Her
husband Esteban, an important businessman, doubts her innocence. Upon his
return to Mexico, he divorces her, bribes his friends to keep silent, and
tells his children that their mother has died in an accident.
Twenty years
later, Maria is released from prison for good behavior and she returns to
Mexico seeking revenge. She is determined to uncover the
real culprit and to confront Esteban, whom she now despises for having
abandoned her to her fate. But her greatest desire is to get back her two
children, Hector and Estrella. The first thing on Maria’s agenda is to
summon everyone who went on that fateful trip: Esteban, Servando, one of
his partners; Demetrio, the company attorney, and his wife Daniela; Bruno,
Esteban’s other partner, and his wife Fabiola, and Esteban’s two aunts,
Carmela and Alba. Seeing Maria in the flesh is a shock to them all, but
shock quickly turns to doubt and fear when she announces that Patricia’s
true murderer has been living among them for the past twenty years.
Maria remarries
Esteban for the sole purpose of winning back the love of her children—not
an easy undertaking, since her children regard her as an intruder, come to
take the place of their beloved mother, whose only memory they have of her
is the photograph... of another woman. Maria must also contend with the
vicious intrigue of Esteban’s aunts and partners, and with the jealous
hatred of Fabiola, who has always been obsessed with Esteban. Maria is
surprised to discover that Esteban has another son, Angel, and will not
tell her who the mother is. Angel is a sickly and insecure teenager, and
Maria takes to him immediately.
Step by step,
Maria wins over her children’s hearts without revealing the kinship
between them. Through her tender guidance, Estrella grows out of her
shallowness and indecision, and finally realizes that, of her two suitors,
Carlos and Greco, it is Greco who truly loves her, while Carlos is only
after her money. Maria teaches Hectoa valuable
lesson when he meets and falls in love with Vivian, who was in prison with
Maria. And thanks to Maria’s moral support, Angel emerges from his shell
and becomes outgoing and sure of himself. However, Maria has yet to deal
with her biggest problem, Esteban. She unexpectedly finds herself caught
up in a heartrending dilemma, for she realizes that she has never stopped
loving her husband, and he, in turn, loves her still. Now, her aching
heart, hardened by twenty years of loneliness, must choose between her
search for justice,... and finding the strength to forgive him.
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