The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young man is guilty or innocent of murdering his father.
The aristocrat Juan de Santa Cruz meets Fortunata, a girl of humble origins, and a passionate love arises between them; but his mother decides to marry him to her niece Jacinta.
The teenage Bisbi, who plays the role of mother to her younger siblings, is the daughter of the indolent Aris, someone who just observes the passing of the years, hoping that circumstances will provide what his family may need, like the cicada in the fable; even when Bisbi tries to make him understand that their survival depends on their personal effort, which is what the industrious ant did every day…
