Nena is born into poverty as a "bastard" child to a widowed mother in 1950s Mexico. Living as an outcast in a system that only helps those with money, Nena and her siblings do everything they can to find food and make ends meet. She struggles to stay in school as long as she can before she is forced to find work as a hotel maid. At the hotel, she works twelve-hour shifts seven days a week to support her family. Then she marries her possessive boyfriend...