In the 1940s, a small Mexican town has seen its last three mayors assassinated in rapid succession. A naive janitor is recruited to become the new mayor, and he believes he will modernize the little town and usher in a reign of peace. But the system corrupts him very quickly, and he takes to abusing his power while associating with an unscrupulous assortment of opportunists, hypocrites and criminals.

Luz is in jail, accused of murdering her own children. Her husband and her mother-in-law say she killed them in cold blood. Dr. Rebollar tries to help the woman, but she refuses to remember anything. Luz thinks of jail as the purgatory: it's only one step to reach the Heaven.

No one could ever imagine that one day La Chingada Vieja would fall in love. Because she is always alone, because no one has ever turn to see her, because everyone is always closing the door at her nose, because when they feel her coming they cross themselves, but most of all because no one could ever fall in love with death. But El Hombre sin nombre, has appeared in her life for good. Only the confusion of an avenging town and the desire of four men to arrive to heaven could change the plans of these two beings. Of whom the purist feelings alive have resurrected them.

Heated tempers, frustrated desires and dashed hopes plague a diverse group of individuals whose lives cross paths in Mexico City. There is the bar-owner's son, Chava, who yearns to emigrate to America. A poor barber, Abel, is madly in love with the gorgeous Alma, who eventually becomes a high-class prostitute. Finally, there is Susanita, the desperate spinster who pursues many love affairs in hopes of finding a husband.

Something strange is going on in Dolores' apartment house--or is it mainly in Dolores' head that the strangeness lies... When her best friend Eva is murdered on her doorstep, and her husband begins to have violent nightmares, it appears that there is definately something amiss in the world of delusional Dolores.

Magda is getting divorced from an alcoholic mariachi in rehab. While she tries to find her inner strength by practicing pole dance she meets Jaime, who gets obsessed with her, unleashing a story of abuse and gender violence.

In Mexico City's infamous Lecumberri prison, three drug-addicted convicts celebrate getting drugs from one of their the mothers. They are found out and locked up in the "apando," the dreaded punishment cell. Protests over the treatment of those held in the cell lead to a bloody confrontation.

Pablo Rueda, a frustrated writer and artist, wanders through Mexico City in a labyrinth of dreams and memories that may or may not be those of his novels.

Ramiro is a theater actor who lives estranged from his father and half brother. One morning, he runs into a suicide, who says he is an evil omen. Despite Ramiro´s efforts, the young man dies before his eyes, which leads him to believe that he has caught his bad luck. From then on, his life turns upside down, at the same time as he gets together with his family to fulfill his father´s last wish: to find the love of his life and say goodbye to her.