Acacia despises her stepfather, Esteban, and consents to marry her cousin, Norbert. Secretly infatuated with her, Esteban has his servant falsely inform her fiancé that she is betrothed to Faustino, and Norbert breaks the engagement. When Acacia accepts Faustino, he is murdered and Norbert is arrested, but after being found not guilty Norbert is pursued by Faustino's vengeful brothers, and he informs on the plotters, Esteban and Rubio. Acacia is forced into the arms of her father, and Raimunda, seeing her husband's passion for Acacia, calls for aid and is shot by him. In her dying moments, as Esteban is arrested, she admits her failure as a mother. One source describes a different conclusion in which the mother kills the stepfather after discovering his passion.