Raising Voices (Ni una más) follows Alma and her friends during their teen years as they learn about consent and abuse through their personal experiences. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
In January 2018, Alma, a troublemaker in her senior year of high school, is failing her classes, and her relationship with her parents is deteriorating with each passing day.
When her parents find out that she might not graduate and that she has been using drugs, her father decides to ground her.
Her father’s decision to be strict throws a wrench into Alma’s plans to attend a party with her best friend Greta, hoping to hook up with Greta’s older brother, David, whom she likes.
Alma sneaks out, and her mother finds out about it. She ignores her mother’s call and indulges in drugs at the party. She tries to kiss David, but he rejects her advances.
Due to the rejection, Alma gets drunk and opts to leave the party with her friend Hernán instead of leaving with Greta.
Hernán sleeps with Alma, not realizing that he is taking advantage of her intoxicated state. A worried Greta looks for Alma everywhere but fails to find her.
Alma’s parents also stay worried about her all night. When she returns home the next morning, they start scolding her, leading to an argument.
Alma’s father ends up hitting her, unaware that Alma is not doing well. Alma is grounded for the foreseeable future.
Greta does not attend the same school as Alma, but her other best friend, Nata, does. Nata is dating Alberto, a chauvinistic and inconsiderate boy.
Both Nata and Greta notice that Alma is not herself. Greta begins talking to various people who attended the party to find out what happened to Alma.
Meanwhile, Alma behaves well at home and starts focusing on her schoolwork. Her mother promises to return her phone if she continues passing her regular drug tests and helps out at home.
Greta knows that Alma left with someone that night, so she writes Alma a letter, assuring her that she can tell her anything without fear of judgment.
Alma also receives pornographic pictures from a social media account, which discourages her from confiding in Greta.
Despite this, Greta keeps trying until Alma opens up to her. Greta then accompanies Alma to confront Hernán about taking advantage of Alma.
Hernán is shunned by all his friends because of what he did to Alma, which leads to him reflecting on his actions and taking therapy to improve himself.
He later realizes that he was not a good friend to Alma and apologizes to her for his behavior. However, he is not the one sending the pornographic pictures.
Greta’s life also takes a turn. With her parents having lost their jobs some time ago, her brother runs a pot farm in their basement to provide for the family.
One day, Greta meets an older woman named Mer, whom she starts liking. To spend time with her, Greta starts selling her weed.
Greta then discovers that Mer works for the Guardia Civil and fears she may have been set up. As a result, Greta’s family is forced to shut down their farm.
Greta, who is a minor, goes to meet Mer once again and tries to sleep with her, intending to blackmail her later.
However, when Mer tells Greta how much she likes her, Greta confronts her, only to find out that Mer has nothing to do with the narcotics unit.
Mer did not set Greta up and had no intention of arresting Greta or David. She decides not to see Greta again after learning about Greta’s plan to blackmail her.
Then, there is Nata, whose boyfriend keeps disappointing her. Despite her friends’ disapproval of her relationship with Alberto, Nata refuses to leave him.
Alberto and his friends reciprocate Alma’s feelings and even go as far as to threaten her, but Nata does not take the incident seriously.
Nata finds it thrilling to break into empty houses and vandalize them after hooking up with Alberto there. This continues until Alberto invites his friends to join them.
Alberto does nothing as his friends try to rape Nata. That day, Nata is saved by the arrival of the police. She then breaks up with Alberto.
At the same time, Alma gets into an accident and is admitted to the hospital, where she meets Berta, an old friend who recently got in touch with her again.
Berta and Alma used to be best friends when they were younger until Berta had a psychotic break, which caused them to grow apart.
Berta is in the hospital because she tried to kill herself. She confides in Alma about the fact that their history teacher abused her for a long time.
The abuse is the reason why Berta grew depressed, changed schools, and attempted to take her life multiple times.
Alma confesses that she once saw Berta with their teacher and suspected that he was abusing her, but she never did anything about it.
Alma tries to persuade Berta to report him, but Berta refuses to relive everything that she endured back then, especially when there is a chance that she will not be believed.
Refusing to let her teacher harm other girls as he did to Berta, Alma convinces Berta to start an Instagram account under the name “Coleman Miller” to expose him.
The account’s pictures will be of Alma, but the story will be Berta’s. They hope that other victims will hear the story and be inspired to come forward.
During this time, Alma’s relationship with her parents improves, and she begins dating David, who initially rejected her because he could not commit to a serious relationship.
However, he develops feelings for Alma and asks her to travel with him, but she declines the offer, as she has not yet decided what she wants to go after graduation.
Ending explained:
Alma and Nata’s fight
Alberto tries to get back together with Nata to prevent her from reporting him because he plans to go to Canada for college, and such a report would jeopardize his plans.
Alberto succeeds in reconciling with Nata, which leads to Nata and Alma fighting. Alberto decides to teach Alma a lesson.
He posts compromising pictures of Alma that Nata had taken from his fake account, resulting in Alma being bullied at school.
It turns out that the person sending pornographic pictures to Alma and harassing her online is none other than Alberto.
When Alma hits a student who bullies her, she gets suspended for a few days. Alma then finds out from Hernán that it is Alberto who has been sending her those pornographic pictures.
He also tells her that her compromising pictures were posted by Alberto. Alma gets convinced that Nata had given those pictures to Alberto.
Alma ends her friendship with Nata, but not before informing her about the pornographic pictures that Alberto has been sending her.
Berta’s death
Alma has been watching her history teacher closely. As Alma’s grades have been improving, he offers to give her extra classes after school.
Berta warns Alma against accepting his offer, but Alma begins attending the extra classes because she is determined to gather evidence against him.
However, the teacher does not make any advances towards Alma, much to her surprise. In fact, he genuinely seems to care about her grades
At the same time, the Coleman Miller account starts gaining a lot of followers, prompting speculation among both students and faculty about the identity of the victim.
Alma starts questioning whether she and Berta are doing the right thing. When she talks to Berta about this, Berta thinks that Alma is questioning her story.
Berta has a breakdown, which results in her taking her life by walking into traffic in front of Alma, leaving her shaken.
Alma’s promise
Nata, angry with Alma, recognizes Alma’s t-shirt and informs her teachers that Alma is Coleman Miller, which leads to the involvement of Guardia Civil in the case.
Mer, who has reconciled with Greta, is assigned Alma’s case. During questioning, Alma reveals the entire truth to Mer.
Mer investigates and discovers that Berta had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder before the abuse began.
Contrary to what she had told Alma, Berta had reported the abuse to authorities, but the teacher was not found guilty because the charges were dropped.
As there is no proof or solid accusation, the case is closed once again, leading to everyone at school believing that Alma lied. Alma’s suspension is also extended.
Alma, feeling guilty for falsely accusing the only teacher who showed her kindness, goes to apologize to him, only to see a younger student, Bambi, waiting outside his office.
Alma realizes that Berta had been telling the truth and that Bambi is currently being abused by the teacher.
Alma sends Bambi away. She is now determined to expose the truth and makes the same promise to the teacher.
Alma’s protest
Alma talks to her parents and tells them everything, including her plan to expose her teacher. Her parents support her decision.
Her father even tells her that he is proud of her and apologizes for hitting her. He will no longer force his choices on her.
With everyone calling her a liar and the possibility of not being able to graduate, it takes a lot of courage on Alma’s part to execute her plan.
She goes to her school and hangs a banner that reads that there is a rapist hiding in the school. She stands under the banner as a form of protest.
Alma’s actions give Bambi the courage to come forward and stand with her. Alma then reveals the identity of the rapist on the Coleman Miller account.
Greta, Hernán, and several others then join Alma’s protest. When Alberto and his friends speak ill of her, Nata stands up for Alma.
She tells everyone that Alberto has been sending pornographic pictures to Alma and that she is going to report him, which means he will not be able to go to Canada.
Nata breaks up with him and joins Alma’s protest. The principal tries his best to crush the protest, but to no avail.
Eventually, he calls the police, but Mer reveals that she has come to arrest the teacher, not to disperse the students.
A girl from a different school, who was previously abused by the teacher, saw Alma’s posts and decided to report him. Alma asks Mer to talk to Bambi as well.
Alma then gets hired as a community manager for a DJ. She will be touring Europe for three months. This eases her parents’ worries about her future.