A young journalist presses an elderly artist to display the portrait of a naked indigenous woman he keeps in his study. As the artist begins to tell the story behind the painting, the narrative shifts into a rich flashback set in Xochimilco, Mexico in 1909, a time just before the Mexican Revolution when the region’s landscapes cradle a tight-knit community of indigenous people. The woman in the painting, María Candelaria, is a young indigenous woman shunned by her own people for being the daughter of a prostitute. She and her lover, Lorenzo Rafael, face constant exclusion and threats, despite being honest and hardworking. They are met with criticism and condemnation from the townsfolk, and their hopes for a life together are continually crushed by social prejudice.
Don Damián, a jealous Mestizo store owner who wants María for himself, blocks their marriage and relentlessly harasses them over a minor debt. María owes him money for goods, and their attempts to barter—flowers from María and vegetables from Lorenzo—are rebuffed. In a cruel turn, Don Damián’s cruelty escalates when he murders a piglet that the couple planned to raise for profit, sabotaging their chances to save enough money to wed. When María contracts malaria, Don Damián stubbornly refuses to supply the quinine they need. In desperation, Lorenzo breaks into the store to steal the medicine and to obtain a wedding dress for María. He is caught and imprisoned for the theft, and María agrees to model for the painter to secure his release. The painter, El Pintor, begins the portrait and asks María to pose nude, a request she refuses, choosing instead to preserve her dignity.
The artist finishes the painting with the nude body of another woman, and when the villagers of Xochimilco see it, they presume it is María Candelaria. They stone her to death and burn her house, while Lorenzo watches in helpless horror. In the end, Lorenzo escapes from prison to carry María’s lifeless body through the Canal of the Dead, a heartbreaking journey that underscores the tragedy born from prejudice and intolerance. The film’s portrayal of the villagers—often portrayed as shrill and bullying—reads as a pointed critique of small-town superstition, yet the narrative also delves into the nuanced tensions between those beliefs and a more compassionate, if still imperfect, Christian conscience as expressed in interactions with the Priest. The story surrounds not just María’s suffering but the communal inertia that allows such injustice to unfold, weaving a somber meditation on beauty, honor, and the consequences of judging others too quickly.
