Valentín Terrazas and Felipe González are two competing candidates in a presidential race in a fictional town in Chihuahua, and their rivalry quickly spirals into violence when a shoot-out erupts between them. Valentín is wounded in the left arm, and Jesusita helps him reach safety at the home of Doña Tula Tulancingo and her daughter Teresa Marroquín. Valentín awakens to find three women by his side, and while he is irritated to be in that particular house, his fierce discomfort grows when he learns that Teresa is engaged to marry Felipe.
As the situation unfolds, Valentín discovers a quiet mischief that complicates his plans: Macario has been secretly sending flowers to Teresa in Valentín’s name for several days, a revelation that unsettles Teresa and her mother and leads them to visit Felipe’s hacienda, where Jesusita lives and works. In a tense moment at home, Teresa gives Jesusita a gown for an upcoming party and questions why Jesusita refuses to dress in a more traditionally feminine way. She tells Jesusita she should present herself more gracefully if she hopes to attract a man. The moment wounds Jesusita, and she leaves the room in tears. Later, just before dinner, Jesusita overhears Felipe telling Teresa and Tula that Jesusita should have been a man because of her behavior, yet he admits he envies Jesusita’s strength of character. He also confesses that he doubts Jesusita will ever fall in love, a notion that further unsettles her. After hearing this, Jesusita sinks into sorrow and resolves to prepare for the party by dressing as she truly wishes.
Felipe’s duties in the town bring him to pay municipal taxes for Tula, only to find the tax bill has tripled. He confronts Valentín, who makes a provocative offer: he will waive the inflated amount if Teresa agrees to marry Valentín; otherwise the burden falls on Felipe as Teresa’s would-be husband. Valentín frames the issue as a public-spirited debt—funding electricity, running water, schools, and public parks—yet Felipe remains reluctant to pay. Doña Tula visits Valentín’s office to press for a lower sum, but Valentín holds firm: the remedy is that he becomes Teresa’s husband-to-be, or Teresa’s future husband will have to handle the payment.
The courtship theater intensifies as Valentín serenades Teresa from outside her window. She appears at the window but withdraws indoors, and Jesusita joins the scene, asking Valentín to play a song for her. He refuses, telling her that she has the heart of a man, a remark that triggers laughter from the men and brings Jesusita to tears once again. Teresa tries to console her, insisting that Jesusita cries in a way that mirrors a woman’s sorrow, and Jesusita confesses that she does love like a woman and endures pain because of it.
The party becomes a turning point. Jesusita undergoes a remarkable transformation, arriving at the celebration as a graceful, elegant woman. Valentín crashes the party and sings to Teresa, while Jesusita clings to Felipe’s arm. In a bold moment, Valentín proposes to Teresa, but she asks him to leave, signaling the complicated triangle at the heart of the story. The next day, Felipe reveals to Jesusita that he plans to marry Teresa, leaving Jesusita stunned and fleeing the room in confusion.
In a bid to salvage a workable arrangement, Valentín reaches out to Jesusita with a new proposal: they will work together so that Jesusita can marry Felipe, while Valentín pursues Teresa. The plan takes a darker turn when Teresa is abducted to a remote cabin. Valentín serenades her from outside in an attempt to soften her heart, but Felipe arrives to rescue Teresa and shoots Valentín with blanks loaded by Jesusita. Valentín pretends to die, prompting Teresa to declare her love for him with a line that feels both tender and tragic. In a twist, Valentín reveals the ruse and discloses that Jesusita is actually in love with Felipe, a realization that only becomes clear to Felipe as the events unfold.
Layered with romance, pride, and the pressures of gender expectations, the story culminates in a tense confrontation between love, loyalty, and ambition. The characters navigate the loyalties of family and community, testing the boundaries of desire and duty in a world where political rivalry, personal identity, and the pursuit of happiness intersect in dramatic, melodramatic fashion. The film leaves viewers with a complicated portrait of affection and sacrifice, where truth and deception mingle beneath the surface of a small-town political and social landscape.
