La Mary

In 1930, a missed tram near the Riachuelo river in Buenos Aires crashes into the water, killing most aboard. The incident, along with other episodes, helps Mary earn a reputation as someone who can predict the future. The family begins to associate her with foretelling events.

By 1940, Mary is a cheerful yet very chaste young woman. On a bus, she notices a smiling young man, who then follows her to learn where she lives. The chance meeting sets the stage for a new relationship.

Mary tells her father that she has chosen a husband, but she does not know his name or where he lives. The revelation signals the beginning of a fate-driven romance. The moment underscores the preoccupation with marriage and destiny.

At Rosita's wedding, Tito reveals she is marrying because she is pregnant, and that abortion would be dangerous. Mary feels revolted by the situation, becomes dizzy, and flees the party. The scene hardens Mary's view of morality surrounding pregnancy and birth.

That summer, Mary reconnects with Cholo, who works for a meat packing company with his brothers and is also a boxer. They quickly start a relationship, and Mary invites him to her house. Cholo agrees to leave boxing to pursue the relationship more seriously.

Mary meets Cholo's family on New Year's Eve: his widowed mother Mrs. America, his brothers Raul and Hector, Claudia, and their spouses. The family introduces itself to Mary and the evolving dynamics within it. Mary asks Cholo to leave boxing as the relationship deepens.

Cholo and Mary share a passionate moment, and he tries to consummate the relationship. Mary insists she will marry a virgin, rejects his advances, and the couple briefly part before reconciling. The vow anchors the path to a church wedding.

Five days after their reconciliation, they plan their wedding. On the civil wedding day, Mary declares she will remain a virgin until the church wedding two days later, and Cholo again tries to force himself; she rejects him violently. After the church ceremony they consummate their marriage in a Buenos Aires hotel.

Sofia, Cholo's sister, becomes pregnant and fears complications from previous births. Mary advocates sacrificing one's life rather than harming a child. Sofia chooses to have an abortion, but the procedure results in her death, which shakes the family and Mary’s worldview.

Initially, Mary says Sofia deserved what happened, but she soon resolves to help raise Sofia's children and honor her memory. This marks a shift toward empathy amid her prophetic tendencies. The event deepens the strain within Mary and Cholo's relationship.

Six months after becoming a widower, Raul begins a relationship with a widow. Mary accuses Raul of desecrating Sofia's memory, while Ariel defends him. Claudia believes Mary is a prophetess and urges her to stop speaking, intensifying tensions within the family.

Mary grows increasingly sad and withdrawn, moving away from Cholo and urging him to leave the business he shares with his brothers. Her emotional distance strains their marriage and the family’s cohesion. The rocky relationship reflects her unstable mental state.

An accident occurs at work when Ariel takes Cholo's place, killing Ariel. Mary attends the wake and is confronted by Claudia, who urges the two to stop talking. The loss sharpens Mary’s sense of foreboding and heightens the family’s fragility.

Mary's prophecies seem to widen to include Luisa's illness and her own potential death. She becomes more depressed, retreats further from the world, and experiences nightmares that torpedo her already fragile mental state.

Luisa recovers from food poisoning, but Mary remains convinced that fate governs life and death. While Cholo sleeps, Mary rises, strips, dons her wedding dress, and murders him by stabbing him in the heart. The act marks the tragic culmination of her descent into madness.