Eleven-year-old petty criminal Maroa lives with her violent grandmother Brigida in Caracas. After her boyfriend Carlos is involved in a shooting, Maroa is arrested and sent to a school where Joaquin conducts the youth orchestra, and he asks the naturally talented Maroa to join. Days now revolve around the classes that Joaquin, the shy and unconventional teacher, gives her. He is immediately interested in this talented young girl, who lacks all notion of discipline. Joaquin, the only person to offer hope in the midst of her rejection, finds that through Maroa, his world has also changed forever.
Devil Gold is director José Novoa's third collaboration with producer Elia Schneider, and like the previous two films, Huelepega (or Glue Sniffer, which Schneider directed in 2000) and Sicario (1994), the film is a thriller-melodrama that focuses on a real-life problem plaguing Venezuela, with an emphasis on how the conditions affect children. Thus, after a few titles explaining the impact that gold mining has had on the country's Amazon region, along with helicopter footage (later to be blended into the narrative) of the ecologically devastated area, the film settles in on the lawless shanty town of Payapal for its narrative. Gallego (Armando Gota) runs the mine, exploiting his cheap labor force. Aroldo (Pedro Lander) breaks into Gallego's safe and steals his gold, along with a good deal of gold that Gallego was holding for his workers. Aroldo involves the unwitting Carmen (Jenny Noguera) in the robbery, and, when they are discovered, he shoots and kills Gallego's young son.
During a bus ride through the Andes, two seminarians encounter with a woman named Manon. Immediately, one of them falls in love and the attraction is mutual, so they decide to flee to capital city to start a new life. But the love of Manon ambitious drags this man to leave his vocation and commit criminal acts to maintain a life of luxury and extravagance.
Commissioner Leon (Miguel Angel Landa) investigates the murder of a woman in a population near the capital. The woman was raped before death and the case is complicated when his brother becomes the prime suspect, since it is a priest (Eduardo Serrano). Because of the implications that inquiries might have, Leon is pressured to keep the event as a "crab" (Cangrejo, or a unsolvable case), but he decides to comply with the law.