Reynaldo Leon

Telenovela in six chapters adapted from the original screenplay by Gabriel García Marquez, directed by Ruy Guerra and shot in Cuba in 1991.

Paris, 1931. A beautiful young French woman suddenly gives up her career as a model after she discovers she has leprosy. She then quits her luxury life with her husband and her little boy and leaves for the Fiji Islands in an attempt to get healed in a special place where leprous people like her are taken care of. There, she is soon called 'the white goddess' as she makes a strong impression on many persons around her, especially men. The film describes her life experience because of the secret she holds about her sickness...

Violeta is a Cuban prostitute who tells her tempestuous life story to a young male journalist. Her first lover was a revolutionary killed by government soldiers. She fled to New York, where she had an affair with a famous American actor. After he gets her pregnant and dumps her, she sells her story to the tabloids in revenge. The revenge escalates - he has his friends rape her, and she slashes his face, putting an end to his career. Back in Cuba, the older Violeta relies on foreign customers to make ends meet.

The story of Monteforte Toledo - the film's Doctor Zamora - who comes to San Pedro La Laguna (Guatemala) as a young man during the military dictatorship in the first decades of the 20th century. Zamora sets out with great idealism and dedication to eradicate illness among the Indians, even if his work is disapproved by the military commander in town. Zamora falls in love with María, a young Indian girl from a village, and he invites her to come live with him in the town of San Pedro. However, other young women have noted the charm of the elegant of Zamora, and even the young idealist doctor cannot escape the conflict between Ladinos (Mestizos or non-Indians) and Indians.