Between Lands (Entre Tierras) is a Spanish drama on Netflix that follows María, whose family is drowning in debt.
But when a rich newcomer arrives, she's forced to make a challenging decision in order to help her struggling family and save them from financial ruin.
Here's everything that happened in Between Lands episode 1...
Almería, 1967
María is curious when she sees the mayor's wife rallying around her three young daughters as a mysterious car pulls up. María's hairdressing client, Julia, informs her that a rich farmer from La Mancha called Don Ramón is here to find a wife and has agreed to help a local girl from the town.
Ramón inspects each of the three girls standing in front of him as part of a deal that he struck up with the mayor, but he isn't happy. At the bar, María is clearly struggling as she sells her late father's gold chain to Julia for 500 pesetas and some sardines to feed her family.
María returns home to her sick mother, Sagrario, who has never gotten over her husband’s death and has been depressed ever since. María has taken the responsibility of being the head of the family and takes care of Sagrario and her two siblings.
The depth of the family's financial issues deepens when it's revealed that they owe their landlord ten months' rent and will be kicked out of the house if they don't pay up.
María goes to pick up her brother Guillermo and sister Luisa from the beach and they are nearly run over by Ramón. As Luisa slams him for his reckless driving, his interest is piqued as she catches his eye.
Later on, María calls her lover José in Germany, but he doesn't answer. It's been five years since he left and María still calls him every week.
María is horrified when she learns that Ramón wants to marry her sister and Luisa vehemently refuses. The mayor's wife manipulates Sagrario into letting her daughter marry Ramón in exchange for money and to secure her children's future.
A distraught Luisa rebels against their wishes and runs away, but tragedy strikes when she locks herself in her room and overdoses on pills in a desperate bid to stop her fate.
With the fear that they will become outcasts with no money, the children realise how much despair Sagrario is feeling and Luisa agrees to the arranged marriage for the sake of the family.
As the family meet Ramón to sign the contract, María decides to sacrifice herself by marrying Ramón instead of Luisa with the promise that he will pay off the family's debt.
After María has a heart-to-heart with Luisa, we see a flashback of María and José together on the beach. He promises her that they will get married when he comes home with enough money, but María refuses to go with him to Germany as her family need her.
The next day, María prepares to marry Ramón at the parish, but she's stunned to discover that it is a proxy marriage and she is actually marrying Ramón's nephew, Manuel.
Ramón is marrying María on Manuel's behalf and when María confronts the landowner about the revelation, he harshly stops her questioning and threatens to stop the money.
María bids an emotional goodbye to her family, before Ramón pulls her away and they drive to La Mancha.
María meets Manuel, who is furious to discover that his uncle has gone behind his back to get him a new wife. Manuel kicks María out of the house and demands Blas the vicar to undo the marriage as he's already married. Manuel insists that he wants María gone by tomorrow and Blas tells María that Manuel's first wife Llanos vanished without a trace years ago.
Blas offers to get María a bus ticket back to Almería, but she refuses, telling him that she can't leave as Ramón won't give her family money.
The next morning, María is immediately thrown into working on the fields in the scorching heat and her presence is met with disdain from Claudia, one of the day labourers.
The workers are stunned when María reveals that she is Manuel's wife and they accuse her of spying on them. Claudia warns María that she won't be spying for long as the Cervantes' wives "have a curious habit of disappearing" and is convinced that Manuel killed Llanos because she had a lover.
While working in the stables, María meets a little boy who quickly runs away when she finds him hiding. She later finds out from a curt Ramón that the boy is Nicolás, Manuel's son and she bashes Ramón for letting Nicolás eat in the stables as he refuses to come into the house since his mother disappeared.
Ramón is quick to make the depraved rules of the contract clear to María and orders her to provide a suitable heir for his lands.
"You will give Manuel children at the times specified in the contract. Or your family returns the money," Ramón states.
To add to María's horror, Ramón tells her that she must sleep with Manuel tonight when he returns home drunk and when she falls pregnant, he will send her mother enough money for a "lifetime of comfort," but if she doesn't she will have to pay back every last peseta with interest.
A drunk Manuel arrives home and orders María to get out of his bedroom. She sits in a dark room alone and looks at an old photo of her family and José, wishing she was back home.
Between Lands is available to watch on Netflix now.
