Mariana de la Noche

In a mining village, it is rumored that Mariana Montenegro Madrigal has a curse, since all the men that fall in love with her suffer a fatal accident sooner or later. Mariana is a romantic young woman who lives with her father, Atilio.

Atilio is the mine owner, a powerful man capable of cruelty when crossed. He hides a dark secret: Mariana is not his daughter and what he feels for her is far from paternal love. Atilio has two sisters: Isabel and Marcia. Isabel, the elder, is kind-hearted, she loves Mariana and has raised her as if she were her own daughter.

Marcia on the other hand is arrogant and vain, dresses in a masculine way and is hard on the miners. She is in reality a step-sister of Isabel. Cold-hearted she has never known what love is until Ignacio Lugo–Navaro Vargas comes to town: a journalist who has come under a false name to search for his roots.

Once he gets to know Mariana, Ignacio knows that he will never be able to love another woman and his feelings are reciprocated. However, Marcia is passionately in love with Ignacio, and is full of jealousy when she discovers that Ignacio and Mariana have married in secret.

Full of fury, she reveals the marriage to her brother, and Atilio is determined to kill Ignacio without knowing that he is sentencing to death his own son, the product of the love he had with Lucrecia, the owner of the village restaurant. Destiny saves Ignacio's life when Atilio is hurt in an accident at the mine.

Mariana discovers that Atilio is not her father and she is more horrified to know that Atilio is in love with her. Desperate and thinking she is really cursed, Mariana flees from the village, pregnant with Ignacio's son. Marcia takes advantage of the situation to marry a man she does not love. She becomes pregnant but after an accidental miscarriage she seduces Ignacio and steals Mariana's son, whom she passes as her own to make Ignacio marry her.

When Mariana fled the village, she had an accident that caused her to have amnesia. Not knowing who she was, Mariana became lost in the wilderness and Maria Lola finds her. Maria Lola feeds her and protects her. She tried a few times to tell Ignacio but he didn't believe her. That is until Atilio's right-hand man, Cumache, found her.

Both Atilio and his aid took Mariana and fled to a nearby island. Atilio tried to convince Mariana that she is his wife and the child is his. Although she did not believe this, Mariana carried out her term and gave birth to her son. Atilio immediately took advantage of her weak state and had his malicious helper Cumache get rid of the newborn.

Cumache, however not being able to kill the child, decided to give him to Marcia. Mariana is discovered by her doctor friend, Camilo, and is taken away from Atilio. Hiding in the casino, Mariana remembers who she is but believes that she lost Ignacio's child. She becomes a worker to Ivan Lugo–Navarro, Ignacio's uncle, in the casino as a hostess.

Here Ignacio and Marcia discover that she is alive. Wanting to be with Mariana, Ignacio begins to search her out and fight for her love. Seeing this and the other hostess, Carol, fight for his attention, Marcia loses it and demands Mariana to stay away, using Ignacio's child as a weapon against her. Marcia even convinces Lucrecia to help her separate Mariana from Ignacio.

Mariana backs away, although deeply in love with Ignacio, and tries to make a life for herself. She convinces Ignacio that she was only using him as a toy to get back at Marica; since she accomplished it, he was longer appealing to her. Marcia in the end loses the love battle between Ignacio and Mariana.

She seeks out Atilio's help, knowing that he is alive and safe. Atilio, now the owner of the casino, watches over Mariana. He even comes forward and tells her that he is alive. That he wants her as his companion and to help him get back all that was his, the mine and the mansion.

Believing what she thinks is a paternal plea, Mariana agrees to his request. She begins to accompany him and help him take it all back. Marcia becoming more and more furious against Atilio and Mariana, uses the baby against Mariana to torment her of not having her child from Ignacio.

Marcia's plot however come to an end. The baby is discovered to be Mariana's. Atilio also loses out to his obsessive passion for Mariana. Once more, Ignacio and Mariana are reunited and with their son.

• Mariana de la Noche at IMDb
• Official website at esmas.com (in Spanish)