Minerva Mirabel (Salma Hayek) lives in the Dominican Republic. She has problems with Rafael Lenidas Trujillo (Edward James Olmos), who is the dictatorial leader of the island for many years. He wants Minerva to become his mistress and gets back at her when she doesn't cooperate. He had picked out other women in the past and gotten them pregnant before sending them away. Minerva and her loved ones pay a very high price because she resists his advances. She then organizes a resistance movement, not realizing what kinds of suffering she will face as a result.