This telenovela is well remembered for its daring move to feature a cabaret dancer/prostitute as the protagonist, a decision that would lead to Televisa being forced by then-president, José López Portillo under the wishes of his mother to classify it a C rating, moving it to the 11:00 pm time slot & changing the channel in which it was shown in seeing it as "improper" to feature a prostitute as the main character on prime time television. The huge ratings success of the telenovela however, and the fact that Lucia Mendez's character doesn't remain a prostitute for long allowed for Colorina to return to Canal 2 and its original timeslot. [1][2]
Plot
Gustavo Adolfo Almazán is a repressedmillionaire[3] married to an invalid named Alba. His life is dictated by his tyrannical mother Ana María.[4] One night, Iván, a rascal brother-in-law of Gustavo, brings two drunken cabaret singers, Fernanda and Rita, to the Almazán household and they start a raucous party. This is how Gustavo meets Fernanda, alias Colorina (on account of her red hair) with whom he’ll share a passionate love affair.[5]
Ana María wants a grandchild and pays Fernanda to have a child with her son, on condition that she gives it to Alba to raise as her own. Although Fernanda initially agrees with the plan, she changes her mind after her son is born. Fernanda flees to Monterey, California where she starts a new life. Twenty years later, Fernanda is a respectable matron, the prosperous owner of a boutique. She decides to return to Mexico and introduce her biological son and two adopted sons to the Almazán family to see if they can guess which one is Gustavo Adolfo’s son.