La Usurpadora is about a woman who meets another who is absolutely identical to her. While one is shallow, unscrupulous and married to a millionaire, the other is all heart, though she is a poor orphan who has suffered all her life. Paola and Paulina decide to change places. Paola proposes the switch so she can run off with a lover and Paulina accepts under threat of being unfairly imprisoned. But the replacement wife ends up being better for the family than the real one: Not only does she offer loving support to her "husband" and "children", but she dedicates herself to rescuing the once-powerful matriarch of the household, Grandma Piedad, from alcoholism. But when everyone has finally found happiness, Paola, the bad, cruel and unloving wife decides to return.
