Acorralada

Plot

The background for the novela is that Octavia Irazabel is the owner of a giant perfume factory, has an amazing mansion, and an enormous fortune, however none of it is hers. Years ago, she stole everything she now owns from Fedora or La Gavoita. As well as stealing her fortune, she also stole Fedora's two daughters and gave them away. Octavia's husband killed Fedora's husband and the two of them, with the help of Octavia's sister, Yolanda, blame Fedora for the murder. Fedora is unfairly locked away in a jail cell while Octavia kills her own husband and tells Yolanda to remain quiet or she'll kill her too. Fedora's two daughters, Diana and Gaby, end up in the hands of an elderly woman who receives them and money to keep the girls and to never say anything. The woman is known to Diana and Gaby as their grandma. Octavia has three children: Max, Larry, and Paola. During a business trip, Octavia became pregnant and the result was Paola. Due to Paola being a "product of sin", Octavia treats her terribly.

The novel begins two years prior to the present day. Maximiliano Irazabal, the oldest son of the Irazabal family, is celebrating his recent marriage to the beautiful Marfil, while his friends Camila and Gerardo look on with something less than best wishes for the pair. They were both jilted by Maximiliano and Marfil for each other. Gerardo happens upon Marfil while she's talking to Bruna on her cellphone, reminding her not to forget about her birth control pills. He confronts her and attempts to blackmail her into continuing their relationship, lest he tell Maximiliano that she's lying to him about getting pregnant. When Marfil refuses, he attempts to have his way with her. Camila stumbles upon them and, hoping to win back Maximiliano, informs them of their "tryst." Maximiliano punches Gerardo and warns him that he'll kill him if he ever lays a finger on his wife again. Before they can make it out of Gerardo's mansion, Gerardo pulls a gun and shoots at Marfil. The shot only grazes her, but she plunges into the pool, seemingly dead.

Across town, at the nearby prison, a young woman named Fedora Garces Soriano receives some good news. She's a free woman, after being behind bars for years, accused of killing her husband. But the crime was actually committed by another person—rich businesswoman Octavia Irazabal, Maximiliano's mother. Thanks to Octavia's treachery, she has lost her entire fortune, her perfume business, and her two daughters. She manages to find a job as a lounge singer at a local watering hole, and renames herself "La Gaviota".

In yet another household, Diana Soriano and her sister Gabriela (Gaby) are getting ready to go to Diana's graduation from nursing school, where she has graduated at the top of her class.

Fast forward to two years later. Max and Camila have resumed dating, but she is getting impatient with his reticence at getting remarried to her, despite his wife Marfil having been declared dead of a cerebral hemorrhage brought on by Gerardo's murder attempt.

Meanwhile, Gaby has found a job at the Irazabal mansion as a maid, and has a crush on Max's younger brother Larry, but is heartbroken when she learns that Larry is engaged to Pilar. Gaby discovers that Pilar is actually cheating on him with another man, Kike, but keeps the information secret because it's not her place as a servant to tell him. His half-sister, Paola, however, also discovers them together, and is nowhere near as reserved. Unfortunately for Larry, she doesn't say anything either. At the wedding, Pilar hesitates to take the vows, and eventually runs out of the church and onto Quique's motorcycle, leaving poor Larry heartbroken and confused. Larry soon discovers that Gaby is deeply in love with him. In an attempt to forget Pilar, Larry marries Gaby in Las Vegas. He soon reliazes it was a mistake, his mother and Bruna treat Gaby really bad but Larry does nothing. Gaby leaves the mansion and moves back in with her grandma. After she leaves Larry reliazes he does love her but doesn't have the guts to stand up to his mother. Pilar returns and asks Larry for forgiveness. He accepts and the two begin dating. During a party Gaby shows up with Kike making Larry jealous. Larry attempts to talk to Gaby but due to Fedora watching her Gaby insults him and continues to ask for drinks at the same time she flirts with him. This makes Pilar jealous, she begins to argue with Gaby. Gaby then turns around and kisses Larry, she follows that up by throwing her drink in Pilar's face. Later on Larry tells Gaby that he loves her and wants to get married by the church so that they can move away from all the hate going on. Gaby agrees. On the wedding day Gaby is waiting for Larry. As Larry is driving to the church Kike runs out, Larry steps on the brakes. Kike then throws himself on Larry's car and pretends to be run over. Pilar calls the cops, Larry is then arrested. The whole "accident" had been a plan by Pilar and Kike because Pilar wants Larry back and Kike wants to have whatever Larry has. Gaby runs out of the church crying upset that Larry left her at the altar. Meanwhile, Larry is in jail crying because he feels that Gaby hates him. Pilar then gets pregnant with Kike's child but she claims its Larry's. As time goes on Fedora, who has now been revealed as Diana's and Gaby's mother, makes Gaby marry Kike. After the wedding Gaby runs off Larry and the two spend time together but when Gaby returns Kike is furious and claims she made him look like a fool. He then rapes her and forbids her from ever seeing Larry again.

Just as her nursing instructor predicted, Diana has become a skilled and popular nurse at the local hospital, one that has attracted the attention of womanizing doctor Ignacio Montiel. One day, he calls her into his office and suggests that he comes by his apartment one night to discuss nursing, suggesting that she is his first choice for a trauma nurse spot. Diana is slightly suspicious, but accepts Ignacio's offer all the same.

Arriving at Ignacio's apartment later that evening, she finds it lit by candlelight, and is even more suspicious of Ignancio's intentions. He offers her a drink, but she declines and suggests that he not drink either, since he's performing surgery the next day. Her suspicions are confirmed when she catches a glimpse of him pouring something from a small vial into her drink. Diana takes the tainted drink, flings it in Ignacio's face and informs him that she saw him spike her drink. Ignacio drops all pretense of subtlety and professionalism and attempts to force her. Diana knocks him onto the couch and throws melted wax in his face, setting the apartment on fire in the process. She flees, but a slow elevator allows him to catch up with her. She shakes him off, and he falls down the stars. Diana runs away, not bothering to see if Ignacio's still alive. Later on, while commiserating with his friend Andres, he conspires to frame Diana for theft and attempted murder, using Andres as a false witness.

The next day, Diana gets a surprise visit from Ignacio, accompanied by two cops who arrest her for aggravated robbery and attempted murder. She ends up sharing a cell with "La Gaviota", who is in jail herself after stopping Andres from slashing Caramelo, the bar owner's daughter, when she cuts him off. Fedora tells Diana her story, and the two women become fast friends, and Fedora offers to defend Diana. When she is released after the charges against her are dropped, Fedora convinces the bar owner, Paco, to bail Diana out of jail. He doesn't understand why, but Fedora tells him that Diana reminds her a lot of herself. Diana is grateful to Fedora and Paco. Unfortunately, she is called into the nursing director's office, where she is told that she will be suspended pending the outcome of the trial. Outraged that nobody will believe her innocence, she quits, but not before slapping Ignacio and letting him know where he stands with her.

Maximiliano suggests that his mother hire a nurse for Octavia's aging mother-in-law, Doña Santa, who is suffering from senility. Octavia is opposed to the idea, preferring that the poor old woman rot away in a mental ward, but she consents anyway. Diana calls Gaby to tell her that she quit, then Gaby tells her that she can get her the job caring for Doña Santa. Octavia is cold towards her, but her sister Yolanda is impressed with her, so Diana gets the job.

When Maximiliano first meets Diana, he's somewhat taken aback. He swears he's seen her before. And indeed he has...being led away in handcuffs, sobbing her innocence while his friend Ignacio looked on. Of course, he doesn't know this, yet, but since that day, he's been unable to get her out of his mind. He wins over his heart with the kindness and respect with which he treats Doña Santa. Gaby tells Diana about a room in the house that is under constant lock and key, and only the head maid Bruna and Maximiliano go in and out of it due to the fact that Marfil, thought by all to be dead but really in a coma. Upon the hiring of Diana, Bruna, the actual mother of Marfil and her twin sister Deborah though no one knows this, shows an automatic disliking to her because she is very pretty and could make Max fall in out of love with Marfil and fall in love with her. In an attempt to continue to live a lavish lifestyle Bruna calls Deborah and pleads her to return to Miami so she can take Marfil's place and fake being Max's wife. Deborah returns, fakes waking up from the coma and pretends to being Marfil.

Paco is carrying a torch for Fedora, but she keeps him at arm's length, devoting herself to finding her two daughters and avenging herself upon Octavia. Paco is also the real father of Paola but neither he, Paola and his other daughter Caramelo know this. Carmelo marries Pancho, brother of Diego and son of Lala. However he also marries Paola, without either of the girls knowing. When it is revealed Caramelo and Paola hate each other and fight. Later on, when Paola is running away from her mom she gets hit with a car. Yolanda rushes to tell Paco but doesn't know why he should care, Yolanda then tells him that Paola is his real daughter. At the hospital Octavia admits to keeping this secret. Paco and Caramelo stay with Paola and say sorry for everything and that they love her. Paola then dies. Paco yells at Octavia and tells her that she hates her for keeping from him and Caramelo that Paola was his daughter.

Diana's and Maximiliano's love is all consuming, and soon Diana reveals that she is pregnant with his son. She later married Diego, a man who was deeply in love with her, but she only saw as a friend. After the wedding, Ignacio shot Diego as revenge for losing the trial, leaving him paralyzed below the hips, and in a wheelchair. Marfil was left with a woman known as Isabel, the aunt of Deborah's husband Andrés. Marfil goes to Houston, so that she can receive special treatments, but she later returns to Miami to reclaim her rightful place. She kidnaps Deborah, and locks her in a cabin. She eventually imprisons Diana there, too. Deborah managed to switch places with Marfil by knocking her unconscious. Marfil's original plans were to take her far away to a dangerous jungle, presumably the Amazon Rainforest. The plane that was taking Diana, Marfil, Andres, and Ignacio crashed, but the four managed to survive. Andrez and Ignacio got in a fight, and shot Andrez in the leg. Then they split up, Diana, trying to run, tripped, and got amnesia. She was found unconscious by a man who working in a Convent. The others thought that Diana was lost, and presumed her to be dead. Diego's legs healed little by little, and eventually he was able walk. Maximiliano got enough information to figure out Diana's location in the jungle. They went to the convent, and there they found Diana, who was not fully healed from her amnesia. They escaped from the convent, and Max and Diana went back to Miami. Back in the jungle, Ignacio tried to drown Marfil, thinking she was Deborah. The same man who found Diana found Marfil, about to die in the river. Once in the convent, she disguised herself as a nun, and called Andres in Miami to come and save her. Deborah had already taken Marfil's place. In an act of vengeance, Marfil kidnapped Deborah, locked her up in the same cabin, Andres threw gasoline all over the cabin, and burned the cabin down, leaving with Marfil. Max, who was in the hospital after an injury, had a vision in a dream of a woman who looked like Marfil, but was not her. Will the good guys win? Or will evil hold everyone in its clutches?

Trivia