Set in the early 1900s, this film charts the rule of a Latin American dictator as he moves from being a charming despot to a tyrannical ruler before he is finally ousted, only to die in obscurity in Paris. Early in his regime, the resources and agricultural products his country sells command high prices, and he is a reasonably confident, even gentle, ruler who likes to take long vacations with his daughter in Paris. After World War I, with falling prices and a number of coup attempts behind him, his rule becomes quite cruel.

television series

Two kids take a book from a trash can. They begin to read the story of a poor neighborhood in Mexico City. Carpenter Pepe "El Toro" (Infante) lives with his daughter Chachita (Munoz) and woos pretty "Chorreada" (Pavon). Around them, a group of fellows live their lives in many ways: a pair of always-drunk women known as "La Tostada" (The Toast) and "La Guayaba" (The Guava); a beautiful woman (Jurado) who always oversleeps; a hooker with pneumonia (La Tisica) with a dark past. Tragedy comes when Pepe is falsely accused of robbery and sent to the jail.

霍尔盖打小就不喜欢上学，因此常常惹得老师大发雷霆，终于，在又一次的惹怒了老师之后，霍尔盖被处罚一个礼拜不许上学，这让霍尔盖十分的闷闷不乐。在他最郁闷的时候，霍尔盖遇见了一位神秘的老妇人埃斯佩朗莎（凯蒂·乔拉杜 Katy Jurado 饰），一来二去之间，一老一少之间产生了真挚的友谊，埃斯佩朗莎让霍尔盖懂得了如何去善待和照顾他人，在埃斯佩朗莎的影响之下，霍尔盖成为了一个更好的孩子。 一晃眼数十年过去，此时的霍尔盖生活在困顿和抱怨之中，一天在电视上，他偶然看见了埃斯佩朗莎的身影，想起了她曾经给过他的一个盒子，在那里，隐藏着她的秘密。