On a rainy night, Antonio Chan is killed in his car during a random mugging. In his lifetime, Antonio sired children with three different women: Sol, the first wife, and non-Chinese; LuShui, Chinese wife that was arranged to Antonio; and Belinda Ke, the concubine who is of Filipino-Chinese descent. His death and funeral arrangements divide his children whose parents had had strained relations with each other, particularly between Sol and LuShui on one side and Belinda on the other. After Belinda's son, Erickson, allows his elder half-brother Lean to lead the funeral honors, she and her half-brother, Johnson, hatch a plan to pin the blame on Sol, making it appear that Antonio's death was premeditated by her.
Sol is arrested on murder charges, but Belinda's daughter Grace, who is sympathetic to her other relatives, investigates and finds out that the charges were trumped up and that Lean had been recognized by Antonio as his heir and left him an inheritance as an act of penance before his death. Johnson is arrested while Belinda escapes by denying involvement, but at the cost of his son Erickson, who commits suicide in front of her as a result of her domineering ways and the stress of the previous events. Sol and LuShui comfort and forgive a distraught Belinda, who is reconciled with them.
While Susan Roces was the original choice to play the first wife, the Filipina Sol,[1] the role of the third wife was mired in controversy.[2] The contested role, the Chinese mestiza Belinda, was originally offered to Dina Bonnevie. However, Lolit Solis, manager to both Christopher de Leon and Lorna Tolentino, threatened to pull out her talents if the role was not given to Tolentino.[3] The role was ultimately given to Tolentino; Bonnevie, who would have played the role of the second wife, the Chinese immigrant LuShui, bowed out of the production citing that she would not fit the role of a pure Chinese character.[2]Zsa Zsa Padilla replaced Bonnevie in the film.
A famous line of Lu Shui (Zsa Zsa Padilla), "Ako, legal wife!", inspired the fourth Mano Po installment, Ako Legal Wife, which, like Mano Po 2, revolves around concubinage (albeit in a more comedic tone) and also stars Padilla as Chona. Jay Manalo also starred in the film as her husband Elton.
