Agustín is struggling with his family in Bogotá. After his mother's death a few years prior, he's left with his emotionally distant father, who was always there but never really there, a few older cousins who had fallen into his parents' custody and stuck around, and a much older sister he never really knew, who was always kind to him, wrote to him now and then, but lived too far away to contact.
He's an avid reader, and was enamored as a kid with being an explorer. So he packs his things, and without much resistance, leaves his family for long periods at a time exploring. He always came back, though, when he was back in Bogotá, to stay at his old house. He was never received very well. The only people he really comes back for are his friends from school.
He's exploring mountains one day with a hiking group he joined on a whim. The leader of the group tells them about the myth of a magical town located between the mountain ranges, deep in the forests, and it's never been seen before.
Agustín is skeptical, but he likes a good story. He's distracted by something or other and is separated from the group. He decides it'd be a good idea to cut through the forest to find the group, saves time, right? Wrong. He loses his foothold and tumbles down through the forest... down the mountain range, finds his footing again, and then gets himself back into trouble. The cycle repeats until he reaches the ground and collapses.
A group of well meaning citizens bring him to the Casa Madrigal, where he's set up in the nursery on a cot. Alma examines the situation and strictly prohibits Julieta from treating him. She insists the children and townsfolk mention nothing of the magic to him, as he's an outsider, and this poor man with several broken bones is somehow dangerous to them.
Julieta argues-- he'll die if she doesn't help him. Alma tells her they'll assess the situation again when he wakes up, call the town doctor, and find a way to get him back to where he came from.
After a bit of pacing and stressing, Bruno convinces a torn Julieta to trust her gut. She makes a very basic broth soup and wakes up her patient with a cool rag.
He is startled, and in pain, and convinced that he is dead. In his small satchel of things there is a spare pair of glasses-- his last pair was lost somewhere in the fall-- but he can't quite put the words together to ask the nice lady to get them. He also can't really see her. She insists that he eats whatever it is she's put in front of him, that he also can't see, and he is once again floored when the pain slowly fades.
Alma is angry, but not to the point that she scolds Julieta or forbids her from seeing him or anything. They send Agustín on his way, and to their surprise, he settles down in the town.
Agustín visits Julieta at her stand in the town square every. single. day. Whether he has a reason or not, he's there. Sometimes he insists on helping her. Eventually, it gets to the point where Julieta is going out of her way to go see him. Alma notices Julieta's sudden distraction from her work and starts to suspect something is going on.
One time, Julieta is handing out food at a festival at night. After much convincing, Agustín manages to get her to abandon her post for a dance.
Julieta doesn't dance-- but she knows this man, he's sprained his ankle in ways she didn't know possible. At least if she looks stupid, they'll look stupid together.
Wrong. Agustín is, remarkably, an incredible dancer, and she's struggling to keep up. Stepping on his feet, staring at the ground, she's just lost. He advises her to let loose and shake it off and she takes his advice. She steps back, takes off her apron and the tie in her hair, and leaves them at her stand.
Alma finds her abandoned stand and gets angry, but before she can scold Julieta, she spots her having fun. And dancing with the city boy. But she's having fun, and she has that same look in her eye that Alma remembers once having herself, so she gives up the fight. As well as any contacts she had in trying to find Julieta a husband herself.
And Alma eventually warms up to Agustín, enough to give him her blessing, because, she supposes, Julieta's happiness is more important than finding her the perfect husband. And in any case, he really does love her daughter.
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