Paris, 1862. Suzana has been promised in marriage to her cousin since childhood. However, Cirilo Davenport, a professor at the Sorbonne, falls in love with Madalena Vilamil, whom he met through Antero de Oviedo Vilamil. Antero had Madalena's hand in marriage, as she was promised by her parents, Dom Inácio and Dona Margarida. Respecting their daughter Madalena's feelings, however, the parents eventually consent to her marriage to Cirilo. Suzana and Antero, both rejected by their cousins to whom they had dedicated their love, begin to plot.