Luciana, a poor, young woman working as a maid in the venerable Velarde home, falls in love with young seminary student Juan de la Cruz, the Velarde`s son. The night before Juan is to return to the seminary, he and Luciana give in to their feelings and spend a night together. A short time after Juan leaves, Luciana discovers she is pregnant and is forced to tell Ana Joaquina, Juan`s cruel mother, that Juan is the father. Mercilessly fired and thrown out of the house, Luciana is left homeless and penniless on the streets. On a cold, rainy night, Luciana gives birth to a baby girl. Terrified and alone, Luciana makes the painful decision to leave her baby on the doorstep of a mansion in hopes that someone else could give her daughter a better life. Twenty years later, Luciana has now become Luciana Duval: a renowned and respected business woman in the fashion world.