Enredo

Perla is a teenager who has been prostituted by her mother, Tomasa and acts as a dancer in a cabaret-brothel. The pianist who plays at the venue is a romantic singer-songwriter and inveterate poet who would like to make art out of a sordid situation. When "el Marro", a sick sailor stops at the place and falls in love with the girl, the mother tries to cut off that relationship, but fails to do so. Because she knows that they are actually siblings.—Leo Urbina

The story is told successively from the point of view of the three protagonists: El Marro, the sailor; Perla, the prostitute; Tomasa, his mother. El Marro - In quarantine on a cargo ship calling at the port, he escapes when he finds that his companion is dead. In a brothel where he thinks he will meet the rest of the crew, he meets Perla, a prostitute with whom he falls in love. Their passion is protected by Carmelo, the brothel's pianist, but fought by Tomasa. El Marro, from certain clues, guesses that he is in fact Perla's brother. He returns to the boat. Perla slits her wrists and throws herself into the harbor. It is the same story, but the events are told in a way that contradicts the sailor's version, and continue after Perla's attempt. Rescued and saved, she discovers she is pregnant. The doctor refuses the abortion, and Tomasa is forced to perform it herself. Warned by Carmelo, El Marro returns, and the two lovers live out their incestuous passion, sharing Carmelo's hopes of escaping the humiliations he suffers in Eneas's brothel. Tomasa's story begins when El Marro and Perla were children. Tomasa, separated from her husband, meets Carmelo, a pianist in a church, on the day of Perla's baptism. During an absence, the husband tries to rape the girl, during the argument, the young boy kills his father. The mother makes him run away, escapes from the police by offering herself to the commissioner and becomes Carmelo's mistress. Her story then crosses the other two, presenting a new version. She performs an abortion, but at Perla's request. The story continues until the end of the Eneas, and the departure to found a new brothel. Five years later - Perla, now a mother, continues her work in Carmelo's establishment, alongside El Marro and Tomasa. The business seems to be thriving.