Teresa is a young woman dominated by her own greed. She would rather lie and cheat her way out of poverty than find an honest job. Her parents have made great sacrifices to give her a good, decent life, but Teresa wants more, a lot more. Mariano, Teresa’s boyfriend, is truly in love with her and stands behind all of her decisions; Teresa, however, sees him merely as a convenient accessory, someone always eager and ready to do her bidding. Time and again she will despise him to run after other men with power and money, but she will always return to him when other women, such as her friend Aurora, start getting too close to him. Her first prospective “catch” will be Paulo, the richest, best looking boy in the exclusive colleague she attends with a scholarship. But, eventually, Paulo discovers her lies and her penniless background, and calls off the wedding, preferring to keep her as his mistress. When she refuses to accept his denigrating proposal, he humiliates her publicly. Teresa’s revenge will be carefully plan, and will cause Paulo to become a drug addict. Later, Teresa pins her hopes on her college professor, Arturo de la Barrera, who will fall deeply in love with her and will pay her way through law school. To achieve this end, Teresa convinces Arturo’s sister, Luisa, that her parents don’t love her and mistreat her. Luisa takes pity on her and brings Teresa to live under her roof, where she begins flirting shamelessly with Arturo. However, Arturo’s ethics, and the promise he made to Teresa’s father, refrain him from declaring his love to her until she receives her degree and is no longer his student. When that day finally arrives, Teresa drops Mariano, accepts to marry Arturo and travels to Europe with him. But, before the wedding takes place, Teresa meets Luisa’s fiancé, Fernando, a wealthy European of royal blood, and suddenly Arturo seems much less desirable to her. So, without a second thought for her “best friend” feelings, she sets out to conquer Fernando. Thus, Teresa, a heartless beauty, will destroy the heart and happiness of those around her, who love her, without a shred of remorse. But, she fails to realize that, eventually but inevitably, a time of reckoning will arrive, and life will want its due.