Ignacio Silva returns to his hometown, a small port in southern Argentina. There he reunites with his memories and with a friend, and meets three women who lead him to see life differently.

Borges falls in love with Beatriz Viterbo, a high-class young woman, who decides to marry a government official who makes Borges strongly suspect him, speculating that he is a sadist who is slowly poisoning Beatriz. To save Beatriz Borges, he decides to turn to a detective, who becomes the hinge of an unthinkable story.

Rodrigo returns to his childhood home of Salamanca after a four-decade absence and a career as a guerrilla in Latin America, a secret agent in the Eastern Bloc and an official for an international agency. While Rodrigo may have attempted to put his past life behind him, the memory of his now deceased mother and his old-world family returns to haunt him. In an old city dominated by the weight of tradition, Rodrigo discovers a daughter about whose existence he had never known, as well as a grand-daughter, the enigmatic and beautiful Octavia. A rebellious teenager, Octavia dismisses her grandfather's old politics, possessing her own sense of what freedom means. Patino's film is a poetic, assured contemplation on the pain of returning somewhere you never really left and the accompanying ironies of a man obsessed with history who cannot face his own.

This movie doesn't have any coherent plot. It's the portrait of the lives of different people in the hard years of post-war in Spain (the 40's), and how they manage to survive in a country desolated by the war. Like other films: La colmena or Roma (Fellini) it shows us lots of characters and some moments of their lives.

Sonia and Rocio are two friends who are not happy with their lives. Sonia is a fashion executive who hardly sees her son and husband, while Rocio wants to find a good job. Both believe that the life of the other would make them happier.