In Mexico in 1914, Margarita is abandoned by Julio who was married to another. Sent away from home by her parents, betrayed, Margarita moves to a big city where her son Margarito is born. To keep herself, she takes to prostitution, and meets a general whom she falls in love with and with whom she will eventually live. Her life is further complicated when she finds herself involved in his military coups. Margarita is arrested and her son sent to an orphanage.