Based on Jorge Isaacs' original novel, the script was written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and directed for television by Lisandro Duque Naranjo. Maria is the story of a frustrated love, fed by the feeling of hope and perpetuated by death. Maria, as a child, looses her parents and grows up with her cousins, Efrain and Emma, raised as their brother and sister. Efrain returns home after finishing high school. Later, Efrain and Maria fall in love, but Efrain considers this love incestuous, thinking he is Maria's brother. When he finds out that Maria was not his sister, his love for her becomes stronger. Their happiness is interrupted when Carlos, Efrain's best friend, proposes marriage to Maria. Her love for Efrain is sincere and deep so Maria rejects Carlos' proposal. Later on, a handsome young Lt. Barrientos, in charge of a military mission, shows up at their house. His politeness towards Maria provokes Efrain's jealousy, which nearly ends up in duel with Lt. Barrientos.