Spanish telenovela based on Johnston McCulley's characters. Don Diego Dela Vega, adopts the secret identity of Zorro. Diego born in the 1790s to a white father, Don Alejandro Dela Vega, and his wife, Native American warrior named Toypurnia. Diego learned his acrobatics and fencing skills in Spain, under a great swordmaster, than he returned to his family's California hacienda. He lives as both a nobleman and a vigilante, fighting imperialist oppression. He is backed by the brotherhood of Zorro, a secret society called the Knights of the Broken Thorn. Zorro falls in love with a beautiful young widow, Esmeralda Sánchez de Moncada. She arrives in California with her sister Mariángel Sánchez de Moncada and her father, Fernando, the newly appointed governor—and villainous dictator—of Los Angeles. The story arc focuses on mysteries concerning Esmeralda's long-lost mother and the man whose atrocities changed Diego's life forever. Their resolution threatens to shake the Spanish Empire.