Clara, a splendid young woman belonging to the noble Grandi family, is raised by the peasants of the San Leonardo estate where she was born.

Years later, Count Vittorio Grandi, the young woman's father, forces her to return to Trento where the destiny of spending her life with a man imposed upon her awaits her.

Count Guido Fossà, a womanizer in debt from head to toe, is the man chosen for her and, although not easy and not at all obvious, love is born between the two.

Daughter of Count Vittorio Grandi and his wife Elena, and Matteo's fraternal twin sister, she was raised by the Staineri family, factors of the San Leonardo estate after the death of her mother, which occurred due to complications during childbirth.

She has a very intimate relationship with Matteo, an orphan of the same age (born on the same day) raised by the Staineri family, the two do not know that they are actually fraternal twins.

He marries Clara, but continues to lead a worldly lifestyle, but later on he will develop a feeling of true and sincere love towards his wife, which will radically change him.

It is Clara herself, who wanders around their house under the false name of Emilia of Saint-Hubert, as the educator of their only-begotten daughter, Aurora, - who finds in her drawer the bottle of laudanum that had poisoned her, as she believes really that Guido is guilty and instigator of his murder.

Clara manages to save him by tracking down in France and making confess Gèrard, an old friend who blackmailed Guido by threatening to reveal details about the death of his first wife (who actually committed suicide).

During the confession to Clara, Guido reveals that he has sold his share of the silk factory to guarantee an annuity for his daughter and that in his will, he has left the estate of San Leonardo to Matteo and his wife to administrate until Aurora reached the age of majority, thus preventing its sale by Adelaide and Cornelio.

Wife of the deceased brother of Count Vittorio Grandi and the mother of Cornelio, she is a ruthless and greedy woman and demands that her son inherit the wealth and the title of her brother-in-law.

She is the architect of the "misfortunes" of the family : she foments Count Grandi's hatred for her daughter, promoting Cornelio in the eyes of her brother-in-law ; she slowly poisons Clara after Aurora's birth, managing to make her declare mad and have Guido - unable to understand - accuse her of her death and her disappearance.

Cornelio wants to use Guido to convince the chief engineer of the railways to buy the estate to transform it into a coal storage area.

Count Grandi, under the threat of having Matteo arrested for the theft of the silver, forces Clara to return to Trento and informs her that he will give her in marriage to have a male heir to whom he can leave their fortune.

Arriving in Trento, Clara meets Adelaide, Count Vittorio Grandi's sister-in-law and Cornelio's mother, who seems to be taking care of her.

The arranged marriage is an insurmountable obstacle between Clara and Guido, who spends out every night drinking, playing, chatting with lovers and under Gerard's constant blackmail.

Clara returns to San Leonardo and notes that her relationship with Matteo has also radically changed; in addition she watches helplessly at the repeated embezzlement of her cousin Cornelio towards the peasants, in particular Anita.

Guido and Clara leave for a honeymoon in Rome, offered by Count Grandi ; Vittorio hopes that her daughter will return home pregnant with an heir.

In the meantime, the woman wanders around the building with the false identity of the deceased Emilia di Sant’Uber, a lady-in-waiting for her aunt Matilde.

The astute cousin Cornelio and his perfidious mother, meanwhile, plot behind Guido and try to study a plan to get rid of him, so as to be able to become Aurora's guardians and therefore have all the assets that Count Vittorio has.

Aunt Matilde feels guilty for not having been next to Clara before her alleged death and confides in Emilia who, with great courage, removes the dark veil that covers her face, showing the woman her true identity and letting her know.

Emilia (or better Clara), returns to the palace and finds in Adelaide's room the laudanum that the dangerous woman has been giving her for a long time.

She then decides to take revenge on her perfidious aunt by frightening her to death in the middle of the night: by deceit she lures the noble woman into the greenhouse and makes her believe that she is facing the ghost of the deceased Clara with a pruning shears in her hand, a tool that the next day.

During a concert attended by Guido, Annabelle, Cornelio and Adelaide, the latter goes to the bathroom to freshen up, and it is here that Clara sets a trap for her aunt, appearing suddenly in front of her.

Behind bars, Cornelio is confronted by Guido who has discovered that Cecilie and Annabelle are actually sisters, and are part of a plan concocted against him with the complicity of Adelaide.

Clara and Matilde accompany Aurora to San Leonardo, where they accidentally find in a trunk the baby blanket in which the girl was wrapped on the day she was born.

It is a moment of great emotion for the man, incredulous and convinced that he is already dead, but Clara makes him understand that it is not a dream, but reality : they are both alive and the end of the nightmare is finally near!

There is no time to waste : the woman therefore immediately sets off on the trail of Gerard, whom she manages to track down with the help of Annabelle, obviously always with the fake identity of Emilia di Sant’Uber.