A young woman, raised among her botanist-father's poisonous plants, has developed a curious and tragic condition that causes her touch to be poisonous to all other living creatures. When a young student falls in love with her, she becomes caught between her romantic dreams and that which has made love impossible for her. Upon its premiere in San Diego (1994), Rappaccini's Daughter became the first work by a Mexican composer to be produced by a major opera house in the US. Catán’s lush score was presented in a new orchestration when CCM and Cincinnati Opera presented the work as part of the first Opera Fusion: New Works project in 2008.