Sin Hombre is a free reconstruction of a difficult, impossible love. It is the story of two women who lived in Galicia, in northern Spain, in late 1800s. Elisa Sánchez Lorica and Marcela Gracia Ibeas were both teachers, they had met in the classroom, in an environment where male culture dominated. Their love for literature had brought them together, and the mutual passion emerged. Despite several attempts to separate them undertaken by Marcela's parents and the country's murmurs, the two women found a way to stay close.
Following a pretense furious fight, Elisa left the country and in her place came Mario, a "man" who would marry Marcela. But Mario was in fact Elisa, dressed like a man with a cigarette in her mouth, her voice not changed, her smell still the same. They got married in 1901 in the church of San Jorge in A Coruña, successfully deceiving the whole country. Very soon, their plot was discovered, they were persecuted and forced to flee. However, to this day the marriage has never been annulled by the church. 

I learned about the story from the biographical book by Narciso de Gabriel, “Elisa y Marcela, mas allà de los hombres”.