Héctor maintains sobriety and takes his family to Puerto Rico for vacation. A jealous Héctor calls Puchi a whore and frequently accuses her of having affairs with many different men. She later takes him out and he is put on medication. Puchi can't help feeling extremely guilty when Héctor's sister Priscilla blames all of Héctor's problems on her.
One night, Puchi wakes up to Héctor sitting with a gun staring into space, suicidally depressed. She begs Héctor to quit the drugs and to turn his life around for their son and because he is always high and is missing out and she loves him. Puchi is infuriated when she finds Tito eating alone and Héctor shooting up while the gas was on. Héctor's drug and alcohol addiction continues to grow stronger and becomes very noticeable. Through the years, after Héctor's consistent tardiness to gigs, Willie grows tired of Héctor's irresponsibility and decides to go solo. This will be the start of his drug addiction. On a night of hard partying, Héctor catches Eddie doing drugs and does so too. They eventually get married and have a son named Tito. But she is the only woman of his life because he chose her. Puchi reveals that Carmen and she were pregnant with a baby of his at the same time. It is revealed that Héctor was cheating on Puchi with another girl named Carmen. She tells him that they'll take care of each other. He confesses to her that his mother died when he was young, his brother was killed the night he came to New York and that he didn't have many people in his life. Papo invites Héctor to the sweet 16 party he is throwing at his apartment for his sister Puchi and there they get to speak further since noticing each other at the club and begin to further fall in love.
Héctor is falling for Puchi, a girl he saw dancing at the club where he was allowed entry and also to perform by her brother Papo (Antone Pagán), the club manager. The company also suggests that he change his name to Héctor Lavoe. Johnny offers them a deal with Fania Records Company and Hector accepts. One night he is approached by salsa musicians Willie Colón (John Ortiz) and Johnny Pacheco.
He eventually becomes the lead singer in a salsa group performing in a bar. On his first night in the city he meets Eddie (Manny Pérez) and discovers the new sound of salsa flowing through the streets. Héctor decides to go anyway against his father's will in an attempt to pursue his dreams. Héctor Pérez leaves Puerto Rico, even though his father tries to persuade him not to go because if he does he'll lose a father. Puchi ( Jennifer Lopez) talks about her late husband, salsa legend Héctor Lavoe "El Cantante De Los Cantantes" ("The singer of all the singers") ( Marc Anthony), during a 2002 interview.