A married, middle-aged well-known biochemist and university teacher Augusto, leaves his wife, his job and the comfort of his life to go after Marlene, a 14-year-old teenager with extraordinary beauty who burst into his life unexpectedly. One day, Marlene is taken from the custody of Augustus by Genaro, a psychotic sailor, who seduces and finally kidnaps her by taking to the ominous port of Tampico, where Augustus will seek her to try to free her, not without giving her life to pain and atonement, undergoing a deep personal transformation.
A Mexican indian from Xochimilco has clairvoyant powers and is able to predict the future when the sight of some features of a beautiful woman gets him into a trance. A greedy urban playboy notices and tries to profit from the indian's power by supplying enough female beauty to look at. But then things go wrong.