Hipólita, hija de mujer soltera, es criada por su abuela y lejos de su madre en el Panamá de comienzos del siglo XIX. Hipólita se enamora de Don Antonio un hombre adinerado y es feliz cuando éste la hace su esposa, ignorando que todo el matrimonio ha sido ingeniado por Doña Adelaida,  su suegra. Adelaida sabe que por su bastardía, Hipólita tendrá que aceptar un trato déspota y no podrá quejarse de que su marido no le cumpla como tal, ya que al parecer a Don Antonio no le gustan las mujeres. Seis meses después de la boda, una noche por fin recibe la visita de su marido quien le hace el amor, pero al amanecer Hipólita descubre horrorizada que ha sido seducida por un desconocido con acento mexicano Adelaida ha enviado a este extraño
a preñar a su nuera, ya que para heredar la fortuna de su tío, Antonio debe tener  un hijo. A pesar de que Antonio pretende aceptar al hijo adulterino como propio, la asqueada Hipólita prefiere huir y parir en un burdel. Tiempo más tarde, ella  y el pequeño Rafael, a quien hace pasar  como hijo de una criada, parten a Mexico en busca del hombre que la deshonró y del que nada sabe ya que ni su rostro conoce.

Hipólita, daughter of unmarried woman, is bred by its grandmother and far from her mother in the Panama of beginnings of century XIX. Hipólita falls in love with Don Antonio a wealthy man and is happy when this one makes its wife, ignoring who all the marriage has been devised by Do6na Adelaida, its mother-in-law. Adelaida knows that by its bastardy, Hipólita will have to accept a tyrant treatment and it will not be able to complain which his husband does not fulfill to him like so, since apparently to Don Antonio it does not like the women. Six months after the wedding, one night finally receives the visit of its husband who does the love to him, but to the Hipólita dawn he discovers horrified that he has been seduced by a stranger with Mexican accent Adelaida has sent to this stranger
to preñar to its daughter-in-law, since to inherit the fortune of his uncle, Antonio must have a son. Although Antonio tries to accept to the adulterino son like own, the disgusted Hipólita prefers to flee and to give birth in a brothel. Time later, it and small Rafael, to whom makes happen like son of a servant, leave to Mexico in search of the man dishonored who it and of that nothing knows since nor its face knows.