Argentina, 1915. Accompanied by a doctor and his beautiful daughter, Köhner, a ruthless foreman who rules a yerba mate plantation with an iron fist, arrives in the city of Posadas with the purpose of hiring workers.
A handsome newcomer in a village marries a local girl. A year or so later an abandoned baby is left on the couple's doorstep, a baby the man had with another woman. They decide to raise the kid along with the one they had together.
The film tells the story of the natural son of a former president of Argentina and father of public education in the country, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, named Domingo, according to the first autobiographical accounts.
A huge store in Buenos Aires is about to close due to restrictions on imports. The owner of the store returns from a vacation in France, and knowing the financial situation proceeds to throw a big gala party. He hires a man he had met abroad to pose as a fake earl, hoping to attract wealthy clients.
The film begins with some sequences related to the youth of Dr. Ricardo Gutiérrez, his arrival in Buenos Aires from his native Arrecifes, his law studies and a double frustration, as a writer and in his crush on a young woman who loved another man.
It takes place in 1827, in Carmen de Patagones, in the context of the confrontation between the militias of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata and the navy troops of the Empire of Brazil. It is the story of a fort lieutenant who falls in love with a young woman.
When the employee of a famous economist seeks a raise in complicity with a street vendor, her work learns real-life facts by trying to prove that you can live with what you pay.
The plot reflects the figure of Pascual Contursi, tango poet. In love with a singer, he leaves his wife and son to go with her. Some time later, the singer leaves him and he composes the tango that gives the film its title.