Sylvia finds an abandoned infant—a boy—atop a mound of garbage. She thinks she found in him a treasure that, when cashed in, could help her land an overseas job, redeem herself, and repay her mother for the disappointments she brought to the family. But she risks losing the child to government authorities. This prompts her to offer the custody of the child to a catholic priest (Father Andoy) in nearby Quiapo Church (St. John the Baptist parish). Father Andoy and fellow priest Father Revo give the boy a nickname—Anding—and later baptize him as Deo Renato. On learning that the priests have arranged for a permanent custody of the child by a foster parent, Sylvia panics. She hastily auctions the month-old baby to interested buyers. Meantime, OXD, an international syndicate preying on orphans for money, gets wind of Anding. OXD almost successfully snatches Anding from Sylvia and her client, Judge Vida De Gracia, if not for the sudden appearance of a police car. Anding goes on to live for the next five years under the motherly care and protection of De Gracia, who legalized his adoption. For his legal identify, she names him Francisco De Gracia; she calls him Franco by his nickname.

OXD operatives doggedly pursue Anding--now named Franco--until they get to abduct him in a shopping mall. De Gracia who, as always, is with him when the abduction happened, alerts his friends in the military, led by General Dimas Uy, about the kidnapping. Uy sends composite teams to major streets he anticipates as the kidnappers' likely escape routes. Uy's men are able to track the OXD operatives a few kilometers before the latter could reach their safehouse. Their operation having been compromised, OXD operatives hastily drop Franco—hogtied in a bag—in a storeroom at the back of the Quiapo Church.

Still on the hunt of a big payday, OXD does not give up on its quarry. Having known that Franco will be fetched by Quiapo police from the rector of Quiapo Church, who has taken custody of the boy when Hijosdiscovered him at the storeroom, and to be transported to the nearby police station where Police Chief Sir Dikomo, has arranged a news conference for next day, the OXD sets up a trap. At the precise moment that Franco and his police handlers are about to cross the Quezon Boulevard enroute to the police station, OXD stages a commotion to distract the police handlers from their grip on the boy. Unfortunately for the OXD, the commotion goes out of control as gunfire explodes inside the Lacson Underpass. People panic and each one races for the nearest exit. Franco’s handlers lose him and, a few minutes later, the toddler finds himself seated beside Teresa inside a bus bound for Novaliches, a one-to-two-hour ride from Quiapo. For the next several years, Franco is under the care of another mother in Teresa, who gets him baptized as Boy Deo.

Orphaned at five, Yago’s relatives sell him a couple of years later to Mr. Ty, a Manila trader. Yago copes well as a slave. He feeds himself with the food that he serves the family dogs. One day, in a quarrel with Mr. Ty, his wife suspects that Yago brings back luck to the household, Mr. Ty's wife orders Nardong Sablay, a house help, to get rid of Yago. Nardong Sablay tows Yago away to a distant bustling street in Caloocan City, a few kilometers north of Manila, and leaves him to fend for himself. A decade later Yago re-appears as chief thief, among other underworld titles, and becomes an affiliate of a network of criminal gangs run by rogue cops. Later, while on his way to conversion and leaving his criminal ways behind, the rogue cops suspect that he is double-crossing them. The rogue cops set him up as one of the fall guys in a kidnap-for-ransom rescue operation. Yago survives the staged operation, but gets jailed for no reason and without a case being filed against him. He then looks forward to the day when the jail warden sends him outside of prison for community service as it offers him chances to see his wife Katalina and son Junie. However, his last taste of freedom becomes tragic when one of the jail guards escorting him, who thinks he was trying to escape in the middle of a commotion inside the Lacson Underpass, shoots him (which eventually caused Yago’s death). This happened on the same day Franco—later named Boy Deo—gets to slip past his handlers and tossed into the hands of Teresa.

Teresa is one of the five children of Paāg and Minda, his wife, who make a living from farming in Bukāran, a forested barrio in faraway Biringan City, Samar Island. A high-ranking government official happens to operate a commercial logging company in Samar and deploys government troopers to secure the company from protesters who consider its activities as a threat to the environment. One day a team of government military men led by Lieutenant Reg Makatigbas reaches Bukāran. The visitors initially engage the hosts nicely (Makatigbas even flirted with Pamela, elder sister of Teresa), but the hosts would soon find the visitors to be abusive. Paāg turns to armed rebels for support and days later leads a rag-tag team in an ambush of government troopers. Soldiers retaliate and shoot everyone on sight in Bukāran. Teresa and her siblings scamper to safety, leaving their parents behind. Days later, Teresa and Waday, another sister, arrive in Tacloban City, some 100 kilometers west of Biringan City, where relatives offer them temporary refuge. They next travel Tondo, Manila, where an uncle of the mother side welcomes them. They soon find jobs as guest attendants in a nearby beer joint. Here they meet a rich customer named Mr. Dayamante, with whom they both separately dated eventually. Mr. Dayamante's wife gets wind of his fling with Teresa and Waday; she initiates a catfight inside the beer joint that leads her husband to hastily leave and pins to death a scavenger's infant daughter as he maneuvers his car away from the scene. The wife accuses Waday as the cause of the infant's death and successfully sends her to jail. The incident also forces Teresa to abandon her job in Tondo. She needs another means of livelihood to support herself and the unborn child she carries. She finds one as a balut vendor in Novaliches, under the care of another uncle.

While watching TV, Teresa sees a sea of Black Nazarene devotees during Traslacion. She commits to memory footages of people being interviewed who claimed being miraculously healed of their sickness by the Black Nazarene. She plans to bring her congenitally deformed daughter—Luzie—to Quiapo Church to pray for her healing. The visit to Quiapo Church soon becomes a routine on Fridays and Sundays as alms given by churchgoers to Luzie keep coming in. She always brings Boy Deo with her when she and Luzie go to Quiapo. After months of visiting Quiapo Church, Teresa suspects that Boy Deo, who develops a bond with Junie, a boy his age, enjoys staying in Quiapo more than he does in Novaliches. There are times when Teresa leaves Boy Deo behind in Quiapo when she goes home to Novaliches. Away from her parental watch, Boy Deo experiences deprivation; he often calls the street his home. But it is also becoming clear that Boy Deo has what it takes to survive on his own in an unforgiving and sometimes unfair world.

Despite his financial constraints, Junie demonstrates his aptitude and will to succeed and give honor to his parents by successfully earning a college degree. He aims to build a career in politics. Reg Makatigbas has a solid career in the military and transitions to become a political leader at the national level. Joey is a young and idealistic military man. He is Reg's protegee. Joey is also the son of Mr. Ty, whose wife expelled Yago, Junie's father, from her household supposedly for being an agent of bad luck. Joey tries hard to compensate Yago, through Junie, for the injustice that his family inflicted upon Junie's family. Joey supports Junie in the latter's work to achieve his political ambitions. Joey leverages the trust he has with Reg to build the alliances that Junie needs.

The promise of Junie's political career gradually unfolds, thanks in no small measure to Joey's support and the partnership he developed with Boy Deo. When Junie gets elected to become barangay (village) chair, he collaborates with Boy Deo on getting the latter's idea of a Citizen's Congress to work. Citizen's Congress allows the constituents to directly propose legislation, in effect by-passing the structure on representation that is currently established in the country's political framework. The role of elected representatives of the people shifts from being lawmakers and executives to facilitators of the process that vets, prioritizes, and enacts public policy that the people themselves, constituting themselves as an assembly, propose.

The competition for the nation's presidential race heats up between top contenders in Sir Dikomo and Reg Makatigbas. Sir Dikomo plots an event that aims to discredit and embarrass Reg Makatigbas. The latter responds by getting his allies in the Senate to initiate an investigation—ostensibly to address gaps in regulating the country's orphanages—that aims to expose the irregularities involving Sir Dikomo. In this congressional investigation, Sir Dikomo comes across at best as one who lacks transparency, leaving doubts on his ability to lead the country as president. Makatigbas and his allies tries to boost the morale of the beleaguered colleague and project themselves as friends instead of competitor by offering to expose Boy Deo, who acts as Junie's adviser in the congressional investigation, as a fraud. This ploy backfires. On questioning by Senator Dayamante, a rabid supporter of Makatigbas, Boy Deo pins him as killer of an infant who escaped accountability for the crime. Boy Deo's testimony shakes the nation and dooms the chances of either Sir Dikomo or Reg Makatigbas in the coming presidential election.

As Junie rises to become the Vice Mayor of Manila, Boy Deo establishes himself as an adviser and confidante. His reputation as barangay executive preceding him, Junie builds a solid following not only among the constituents of Manila but also among the thin elite and influential crowd. Media begins to cartoonize him as the new "Cinderella of Philippine politics." The Senate investigation and the publicity generated by Boy Deo's testimony further boost Junie's political future. The local elections are just weeks away and Junie maintains his lead in pre-poll surveys among Manila mayoralty candidates. Poised to become the next mayor of Manila, Junie instead gets savagely murdered in an ambush. Boy Deo replaces him as candidate and goes on to win the mayoralty derby.

As Mayor, Boy Deo leads and performs. He serves his constituents with competence, courage, and integrity. As an individual, he preaches by example, doing little good deeds. The only blight on his professional record was a personal one. His identify is in question and cannot show any proof except the photocopy of a birth certificate. Father Revo offers him a lead, which prompts him to think that finding his biological mother is the only way he can address his identity crisis. Fortunately, with Sir Dikomo’s and Reg Makatigbas’ help, Boy Deo is able to track down his mother, who is confined in a mental hospital with no relatives on record. It turns out Boy Deo’s parents are activists; the mother, in particular, is hunted down by authorities. A few days after she gives birth to Boy Deo, the police arrested her. She hastily leaves the infant under the care of Luzviminda, her live-in partner, with the message that the latter finds a way to bring the baby to his biological father at the Quiapo Church. Later before break of dawn, Luzviminda drops the unnamed baby—later called by various names like Anding, Franco, Boy Deo, etc.—on top of a pile of garbage at Watkasing Street in Quiapo.