Canción del alma tells the tale of José Luis Barrera, a Federal colonel, who reluctantly must leave behind his sweetheart, Esperanza, when he is called to battle. After a romantic parting kiss interrupted by his arch-enemy, Salgado, Esperanza follows him to the battlefield so that they can be married before he dies in battle. José Luis is shot right in front of her and he dramatically falls into a nearby river. Esperanza quickly lights the gunpowder laid to destroy the enemy defences, and is thus taken hostage by Salgado and his men. As revenge, she locks Salgado in a barn after his attempts at seduction, and he accidentally drops a cigarette, causing the barn to set alight and he dies. She manages to escape and the film flashes forward through her pregnancy with José Luis's child, which she brings up at the home of a kind gentleman, Pancho, who takes her in after she faints in his doorway. In order to not outstay her welcome, she sets off for the city with her son, named José Luis, where she opportunely bumps into her husbands right-hand man. He has news that José Luis might still be alive and in a sanatorium, and he reveals this just in time before Pancho tries to marry Esperanza. Mother, son and husband are reunited.
Canción del Alma is a love story set in the tumultuous years of the Mexican Revolution. It tells the story of José Luis, a coronel in the Mexican Army, and his sweetheart, the beautiful Esperanza. At the beginning of the film, José breaks the news that he will be leaving for battle the following day and implores Esperanza to marry him, confessing that military life is hard and that she is the only one he thinks about. Esperanza passionately declares her love for José, when they are momentarily interrupted by a band of rebel soldiers, led by Salgado, a rival for Esperanzas affections. José is worried he will take Esperanza away, but Salgado is not a coward; he has faith that eventually she will choose the man she loves most. The rebels leave and the lovers are left fearful of what the future may hold. The following day José leaves to fight the rebel troops. Meanwhile, fearing for his life, Esperanza enlists the help of Josés loyal friend, Sargento Napoleón Régules, who takes her to the Federal camp, so she can marry José. The ceremony is followed by a night of song and dance; a happy prelude to the events that are about to unfold. José, driven by jealousy and anxiety, is itching to fight Salgado and requests permission to cross into rebel territory. He then crosses the barricade with the intention of blowing up the rebel fortress; however, brave Esperanza is hot in pursuit with the news that she is pregnant. In the chaos that ensues, Jose is shot and falls into a river and Esperanza, believing him dead, is taken prisoner. Full of liquor and overwhelmed with love for Esperanza, Salgado goes to her to impeach her to stay, however, Esperanza tricks him into getting drunk and makes her escape. Still inebriated and slow to act, Salgados discarded cigarillo starts a fire and he is trapped in the burning building. He calls for Esperanza to help him, but she keeps on running. She eventually collapses from exhaustion and is taken in by Pancho, a kind and charitable man, and his rather interfering sister. As the years pass slowly by, Esperanza and her child are cared for by Pancho, who is deeply enamoured with her. Meanwhile, in a psychiatric hospital, recovering his memory and his health is Jose Luis. His mother, who had never approved of Esperanza, tells the doctor to tell him she is dead. Believing utterly in this conspiracy, Jose passes the years, silently contemplating her beauty in the white peaks of the surrounding mountains and the clouds of the sky. However, fate is about to intervene with a chance meeting between Esperanza and Sargento Napoleón Régules, that will change the course of their lives and reunite a pair of star-crossed lovers.
