Rina

"Rina" is a macabre telenovela that tells the rags to riches story of a poor hunchback and destitute girl who sells straw dolls in the street and eventually comes to inherit a large house and fortune. As the storyline progresses, it incorporates an occult theme. Rina sells dolls made of straws on the street to support her paraplegic father and younger brother and sister who attend school. One day she passes a house on the street owned by a rich man, Leopoldo, who sticks his head out the window and befriends Rina. Later, he manipulates her into marriage, although he is elderly and sick. Rafaela, Leopoldo's sinister and materialistic sister-in-law, wishes Leopoldo would die so she can inherit his fortune. Leopoldo, however, will have his revenge. Upon Leopoldo's suspicious death, it is learned during the reading of the will that Rina will inherit the house and all assets--but only if she agrees to live there. Rafaela will not inherit the house, but will be allowed to live there with her sister and son, Carlos Augusto. Naturally, this infuriates Rafaela, who with her sister concocts a sinister plan to disinherit Rina and make her leave the house, by getting Rina to marry Carlos Augusto. Her son Carlos Augusto opposes this idea. Once living in the house, Rina experiences strange and and inexplicable phenomenon that are difficult to explain. "Rina" premiered during during the fall of 1977 in 30 minute installments and its original bleak ending was changed. Remade as "Maria Mercedes" with Thalia in the nineties.