The life of the famous poet Evaristo Carriego (1883-1912), who lived in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo and who painted the customs of the people of those years like no one else.
In Cerro Bayo, a mountainous region of Patagonia on the Chilean border, a Kolla Indian falls in love with a girl from another village. His mother disapproves the relationship and hates the woman. When the girl becomes pregnant with his baby, he must travel to find better work, leaving her alone...
The protagonist commits a crime and abandons his brother, on whom the shadow of suspicion falls, to avoid punishment. In his escape he meets for the first time the emotion of a true love, but fatality takes it upon himself, pushing him back onto the criminal path.