Set in the desolate interior of the Atacama Desert in 1934, and filmed on location in the Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works, it classifies both as a historical romance and a working-class melodrama dealing with tyranny, classism and misogyny as principal motives, but given the wide array of characters there are substories centering in themes such as innocence, religious hypocrisy, unrequited love, narcissism, betrayal and prostitution.
Deep in the Atacama Desert lies Pampa Ilusión, a company town dedicated to the extraction of saltpeter, a commodity that underwent a massive boom in previous decades, but which has sharply declined in price due to the global economic downturn and the recent invention of synthetic alternatives.
The daily life and routine in the saltpeter mine is interrupted by the arrival of his daughter Inés (Claudia di Girolamo), a doctor, banished from the family along with her mother when she was a newborn.
Under the shadow of William lives Manuel (Francisco Melo), his son (and, unknowingly, younger brother of Inés), a weak and insecure man that spends his days trying to win the approval of his mentally abusive father and hide from him the near bankruptcy of the business.
Both as "Dr. Aguirre" and herself, Inés gets involved in the daily lives of the workers and management of the mine in the midst of the revolution against her father's oppressive rule, and slowly wins over the loyalty and friendship of the inhabitants both poor and wealthy.