The young Ramon Salazar, son of a village owner, dreams of becoming a pearl fisherman. His father agrees to let him experience this job. Ramon enters a forbidden cave, den of a giant skate nicknamed the Manta Diablo. He finds an oyster containing a black pearl of unusual size. His father donates it to the Virgin rather than sell it to dishonest traffickers. Shortly after, the flotilla of the village led by Salazar perishes at sea. Ramon must face the Manta Diablo with another fisherman to bring prosperity to the village ..
Based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger, and the Giacomo Puccini opera. The young, tubercular seamstress, Mimi, falls in love with the impoverished playwright, Rodolfo, but poverty takes its toll on their relationship. When Mimi meets a wealthy suitor, Viscount Paul, to ask him for financial help, Rodolfo dumps her.
Madrid, Spain, 1880. Angelina, daughter of the pompous Brigadier Marcial, is tempted by the womanizer Germán, who asks her to run away together, just after her boyfriend, Rodolfo, asks her to do exactly the same thing with him.
Mimi, an unsophisticated American girl attending an exclusive Swiss boarding school, unexpectedly inherits a large fortune. Returning to the United States she quickly begins to live a wild and reckless life. Good-natured Joe attempts to set her straight, but she keeps right on living riotously. It takes Mimi a serious accident while joyriding to comes to her senses and realize she is ready for a more settled existence.
Rascha, the wild daughter of Costa, the Gypsy bear tamer, swears revenge on Jorga, her father's enemy, when he cuts off her braids (a sign of disgrace among the Gypsies).