Camila lives happily with her grandmother until a marriage proposal comes her way by a man called Donald. She does not like him on first meeting as he is arrogant and boastful, however on her grandmothers encouragement agrees to go on a date with him. It is a disaster and her disdain for him is intensified; he continually ogles other women and insists on swigging from a bottle of whisky throughout the date. After this date he proposes marriage to her and she refuses. He is outraged at the rebuff and she receives a letter from him to say that unless she marries him the debt that her father owed his for the land that their house is built on will need to be paid in the coming months. Camila was not aware that her father owed his before his death and is distraught upon the devastating news.