Todo un caballero

While in a department store buying a new camel hair overcoat, lawyer Roberto Montes meets his ward and fiancée Alicia Candón, who is there buying a beret to replace one she has misplaced. Roberto has been looking after Alicia since her father died and, although she is much younger than he, has fallen in love with her. After Alicia invites him to dinner that evening at her apartment, Roberto decides to try once more to convince her to marry him. Alicia is in love with a young artist, Carlos, who phones Alicia while Roberto is there and instructs Alicia to tell Roberto about their involvement. However, Roberto leaves while she is still on the phone and discards his old overcoat in the apartment. The next day, Carlos visits Alicia and confesses to her that he is being pursued by a neurotic woman, Ana Silva. Carlos and Alicia promise each other that they will resolve their respective entanglements so that they can be together. As Carlos leaves, it starts to rain, so Alicia gives him Roberto's old overcoat. The next day, Carlos returns to his apartment to find Ana feigning a suicide attempt and tries to get her to leave by telling her that he is expecting his fiancée, but she is so infatuated with him that she refuses to budge. Carlos phones Alicia, telling her not to come, then leaves, advising Ana to be gone when he returns. Meanwhile, Roberto has discovered Carlos' address, goes there and meets the distraught Ana, who shoots and kills herself in front of him. Roberto leaves but forgets one of his gloves. A young boy, Juan, sees him depart. Later, when Carlos is accused of Ana's murder, Alicia begs Roberto to defend him and admits that Carlos was with her at the time of Ana's death. Included in the evidence the police have gathered are Alicia's lost beret, Roberto's glove and his old overcoat, on which Ana was found lying, all of which implicate Carlos in a murderous love triangle. Roberto agrees to defend Carlos on two conditions: Alicia will avoid being involved in the case by not providing Carlos with an alibi and regardless of the trial's outcome, Alicia will marry him. She accepts his terms, and before Roberto turns Carlos over to the police, Carlos tells him that he does not want to drag Alicia into the case, convincing Roberto that he is genuinely in love with Alicia. When Roberto asks Carlos if, assuming that he can prove him innocent, he will leave and never see Alicia again, Carlos refuses, prompting Roberto to reveal that Alicia has agreed to marry him. At the trial, the prosecutor demonstrates that the glove fits Carlos' hand, but Roberto shows that it fits his hand as well. The prosecutor also claims that Alicia's hat could not have fit on Ana's head and, therefore, belongs to an unknown woman. A milliner, Madame Du Barry is called to the witness stand and states that berets can fit various heads and that it could have belonged to Ana. Du Barry then claims to have been a witness to the crime. Du Barry testifies that before Ana shot herself, she had tried to phone her rival, Alicia, but misdialed and reached Du Barry's number instead. Du Barry says that she heard a man's voice and then a gunshot. She also states that, the day after the tragedy, she received a very brief phone call, in which the caller claimed to have dialed a wrong number. The caller was Roberto attempting to determine whether Alicia had received any calls the night of Ana's death. Du Barry concludes her startling testimony by noting that, the day before, she received a call telling her that her statements could save Carlos. Du Barry claims that the male voice on that call was the same one she heard before and compares its vocal quality to Roberto's, and the judge's. During a recess, Alicia tells Roberto that she does not understand his defense strategy, but he promises her justice for all parties. Later, Juan Robledo, the boy who saw Roberto leave the apartment, becomes confused on the stand and suggests that it may not have been Carlos he saw leaving, as Carlos always talked with him and this man had not. When the boy finally states that it was Carlos he saw, Roberto, wearing his hat and overcoat, challenges the boy, who, surprised and confused, then states that Roberto was the man he saw. Because of Juan's waffling testimony, the prosecution's case collapses and Carlos is freed. Alicia has guessed that it was Roberto who was in the apartment, but knows that he could not have killed Ana. Later, Roberto observes the two lovers talking and, realizing that Alicia can never be in love with him, says that he will not hold her to her promise and that, as his fee, he will accept one of Carlos' surrealistic paintings. Carlos and Alicia plan a future together while Roberto intends to take a long trip before returning to the rigors of the courtroom.