This is a tale of love set in the tumultous years following the Mexican revolution, as seen through the eyes of the irresistible Catalina Guzman, a guileless adolescent who is taken from her poor parents to marry a retired general almost twenty years her senior. Catalina has heard rumours that Andres Ascencio is a philanderer and a madman, but she falls blindly in love with him, 'listening to his instructions like they came from God. ' It is not until they are married that Catalina discovers the extent of his ruthlessness and infidelities. As he struggles for political control, she begins a fight for independence, a journey towards liberation that will transform her from child to woman.