Cristina es una muchacha dulce y tierna, querida por todos en “El Platanal”, una hermosa hacienda propiedad de Severiano Álvarez, su padre, hombre recio de campo y de gran carácter. En este lugar trabaja como capataz Diego Hernández, un criollo fuerte que se ha enamorado de Cristina, y ella, ante el amor que siente por Diego, se entrega a él. Cristina confesses to her father that she is pregnant and that she loves Diego. Severiano orders that Cristina and Raquela, the servant, go to the capital and have the child there. Through the actions of Federico Rivero, little María del Carmen returns to the hacienda as Raquela's daughter. Cristina, because she is close to her daughter, is forced to marry Federico, a ruthless and ambitious man. And from now on she will be everyone's “godmother.” Federico causes an accident in which Cristina is blinded; Thus, her fortune passes into his hands.