A lonely photographer named Manuela meets Alba, a young girl who receives no love from her parents. Worried about the young girl, Manuela decides to take Alba with her. Alba's mother, Yolanda, panics when she notices she's missing.
Manuela faces her first obstacles in adopting Alba when her wallet is stolen. The police starts questioning Yolanda on why Alba was outside on her own at night.
Manuela and Alba (now with a new identity as Paloma) have to face the former's dysfunctional past when they have to ask her family for help. The town turns against Yolanda and Lucho when their abuse of Alba is finally discovered.
When Fabio finds the clues hinting to Manuela, she receives an order to testify in court about Alba's disappearance. Yolanda and Lucho are arrested and deny any abuse on Alba.
Suspicions about Paloma's true provenance continue to grow among Manuela's family. Manuela finds her biological mother. The commissioner catches up to the coincidence between Alba's disappearance and Manuela's departure from the town.
After Yolanda ends up calling Manuela's number, she finally gets a clue about Alba's whereabouts. Manuela's family discovers Paloma's true identity. Manuela decides to run away again, only for Paloma to go missing.
Manuela's troubles continue after Fabio is rolled over, while she gets the chance to bond with her biological mother. Héctor finds out about Paloma's true identity.
Yolanda is forced to come to terms with Alba's choice. Manuela, Paloma, Rocío and Fabio make it to Tarifa and plan to cross the ocean to Africa to escape Héctor and the police.
Manuela and Paloma are separated after the police finally catches up to them, giving Yolanda another chance to get Alba back. Rocío tries to help Manuela by taking responsibility for everything.
Manuela is released from prison, but is given a restraining order from Alba, who now goes back to living with Yolanda and Lucho. But neither Manuela nor Alba are willing to give up on each other so easily.
After Yolanda and Alba move in with Manuela to escape from Lucho, he plans to get revenge on all three of them for all the recent events. The León family finally discovers the dark truth about Manuela's father.