En carne viva

Maria Antonia, the beautiful rumbera, makes a living by dancing in a cabaret to pay for her farm. One night, she falls in love with Fernando, a sailor she gives herself to on his last night in the port. He leaves Veracruz promising her to come back. Expecting a child by Fernando, Maria Antonia stops working at the cabaret. One night, she faints in the rain. Her neighbour, Miguel Hernández, looks after her and becomes Laurita’s godfather on the little girl’s birth. Four years later, with no news from Fernando, Maria Antonia accepts to marry Miguel. But the following day, she receives a letter from Fernando telling her why he never came back : his mother forced him to marry a girl he had made pregnant. Maria Antonia is so upset that she throws herself from the top of a cliff. Twenty years later, Laurita bas become a famous dancer, brought up by “Uncle” Miguel and Mercedes, a faithful friend of her dead mother’s. Laurita goes to Guadalajara to meet the mother of her boyfriend Arturo. But the woman refuses to see her. Arturo then introduces Laurita to his father who is in fact Fernando. He recognises Laurita and tells them the truth. Laurita goes back to Veracruz and to the cliff. Arturo runs after her to tell her that Fernando isn’t really his father.