S1.E1 ∙ The First Day

A company of soldiers under the command of Captain don Álvaro de Ataide arrived in the Extremaduran town of Zalamea de la Serena, in Badajoz (Spain), due to the war in Portugal. The captain is staying at the home of a rich farmer, Pedro Crespo, mayor of the village, whose daughter Isabel is seduced by don Álvaro. Pedro Crespo tries to remedy the situation and ask don Álvaro to marry Isabel, but don Álvaro rejects her because she is not a member of the nobility. This contempt hurts the honor of the entire Pedro Crespo family. So, even without possessing jurisdiction over the military, Pedro Crespo orders to arrest him and have him executed. Finally, King Felipe II reviews the mayor's decision, ratifies it and names Pedro Crespo perpetual mayor of Zalamea.

Gilin, is just released from prison and now that the government has clamped down on the sale of tires, decides to enter the tire-stealing-for-resell racket. Driving home, he has a car wreck with defense workers Bill Barry and Mary Dale. His girlfriend Nikki persuades the gangster to settle Bill's claim by giving him the old car belonging to his Chinese servant Tom, who is about to enter the army. Gilin sets up auto lots all over town where he sells cars and tires stolen by his gang. He also sells faulty synthetic tires and Mary's brother Freddy is killed when one of those blows out. Bill and a group of defense workers try to trace the tire by its treads and finally locate one of Gilin's car lots as the place where it was sold. Gilin orders Nikki to set a trap for Bill so he can be eliminated. But Nikki warns Bill through Mary. Bill, feeling that Nikki knows the source of the "hot rubber" goes to see her at Gilin's apartment, where Gilin knocks him out. Tom, in his newly-issued Army uniform, pleas with his old boss to give up this unpatriotic racket and is shot by Gilin.

Dr. John Carey, a noted blood specialist, convinces philanthropist Jules Le Moyne to finance Berlin chemist Emil Hartsell's search for a cure for syphilis. Hartsell's research proves successful, but following Le Moyne's death, the chemist breaks his pledge to give the formula to society and contracts with New York profiteer Adolph Keller to sell the drug at a price prohibitive to the poor. Representing his father in New York, Karl Hartsell becomes engaged to Keller's daughter, Alice. Meanwhile, Lennon Morrett, an artist's model, contracts syphilis from roué M. Saccard, but can't afford the drug. When Dr. Carey is about to intercede and obtain the drug for her, Keller instead sells it to Saccard. Believing that society is responsible for her fate, Lennon sleeps with a lot of men. She blames Karl because his father has made the drug too expensive, and during his bachelor's fling before the wedding, she gives him the disease. Dr. Carey meets the elder Hartsell in Holland and pleads for the drug to be distributed cheaply in America, but Hartsell says America means nothing to him. Although Dr. Carey finally persuades the greedy scientist of his son's illness, Hartsell refuses to give Carey the formula and arranges to treat Karl himself in New York. Because the United States and Germany are at war, Hartsell's submarine is torpedoed off the New York coast, whereupon Karl walks into the waves to join his drowned father. Later, U.S. scientists discover a cure superior to the German formula.

THIS MELODRAMA IS A TRUE-CONFESSION STORY OF ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S TOP MODELS AND INTERNATIONAL - BEAUTY - TITLE HOLDERS, WHO STRUGGLES TO RISE ABOVE HER DEPRIVED CHILDHOOD AND UNFORTUNATE RELATIONSHIPS.

A little girl's paternal grandparents want to take her away from her maternal grandfather, a kind puppeteer she adores.