Monserrat is an attractive young woman with a good social status who lives in a bed of roses. However, she is constantly under Graciela´s control, her mother, who is only interested in appearances and won´t let her social status to change no matter what, and despite her husband Lauro Mendoza has lost everything he had.

Behind her parents´ back, Monserrat holds a relationship with Jose Luis, a navy Corporal, and she is not planning to marry Sebastian de Icaza, the man her mother practically imposed to her at her own convenience. On the other hand, José Luis knows that Monserrat´s family will never accept him because he doesn´t have a promising future he could offer to Monserrat.

At the same time, Alejandro, a workman from a near ranch, finds out that his father is Don Benjamín Almonte, a cruel, powerful and wealthy man, who dies minutes after revealing his son the truth. Alejandro is not happy to receive this news but, that night, life compensates for him by getting to meet Monserrat, of whom he immediately falls in love.

Monserrat ends her engagement with Sebastián and Graciela gets really angry about this since she had seen in that marriage the only way to solve their financial problems. Because of this, Graciela starts seeking another prospect for her daughter, and it is then that she hears Alejandro is Don Benjamín´s heir, which makes him the perfect candidate for Monserrat.

In her desperation, and feeling that she is about to get poor, Graciela asks Alejandro for financial help; he accepts to support the Mendoza family only if Graciela allows him to court her daughter. Graciela doesn´t hesitate and she accepts the proposal right away, promising Alejandro that Monserrat will never know about this.

On the other hand, Graciela and Dimitrio, Monserrat´s brother, discover that she is having a relationship with a simple corporal and they embark on the task of separating them just to avoid putting into a risk the romance that could arise between Monserrat and Alejandro. It doesn´t take much time for them to achieve their goal and they make Monserrat change her image of Jose Luis when the authorities blame him for a crime he didn´t commit.

The situation complicates when Graciela realizes that Monserrat is not planning to get involved with Alejandro, and this is why she is compelled to tell her daughter the truth about their financial situation. So, despite her principles and knowing that this is the only way to help her family and prevent them from going bankrupt, Monserrat accepts to marry Alejandro. Just when she has accepted him, Jose Luis reappears to tell her the truth and explain what really happened, assuring that he really loves her. But it is too late now, she already became Alejandro Almonte´s wife. Against her will, Monserrat moves to Alejandro´s ranch. Their marriage is a living hell at the beginning since they don´t trust each other, but little by little, Monserrat’s feelings towards Alejandro start to change.

Running away from justice, Jose Luis arrives in Alejandro´s ranch to work as the foreman, taking over someone else´s personality. A good friendship immediately grows between them since they both share the same values. This situation makes Monserrat really uncomfortable, and she won´t dare to tell her husband the truth about his new employee since she is afraid Alejandro might leave her now that she has fallen in love with him.

Monserrat, Alejandro and José Luis must carry off a series of obstacles destiny will put in front of them, all these in order to recover what life took from them in the past: love and the opportunity to be happy. Monserrat will have to make a final decision, having her heart as her only adviser.