It begins in the middle 30's in a town near Bogotá, Colombia. Tomás Manrique, his wife Josefina and his little son Pedro, had to take a train and leave that town as soon as a war conflict started in the area. When they arrived to Bogota, a man called Pascual became their friend, and got a hotel for them to stay. When Tomás and Pascual got closer friends, Pascual robbed them. But when Tomás found it out, and went to reclaim his money, Pascual introduced him into an easy-life world, into dirty businesses and crime. In that very moment, Tomás damned the whole 5 next generations of the Manrique family. He damned them to suffer and made their lives a hell. Ten years later, Pedro met Marlene, a nurse, and fell in love with her. Pascual was having money troubles with Tomás, suspecting that he was taking advantages of their businesses and "gaining" more money than him, so he killed him. Pedro found this out, and killed Pascual the day of his own wedding with Marlene.