Nieves has murdered the man who was tried to rape his younger brother. Sentenced to five years in prison, she is immersed in a hard and marginal world, she does yearns to one day being released and fulfill her lifelong dream: to know the flowery desert in northern Chile. When an oversight of her captors allows her to flee, her dreams will have to wait still. She dedicates herself to managing a nightclub where her former jailmates prostitute themselves.

Leyton and his lifelong friend Modesto are both fishermen and as close as brothers, but very different in temperament. The braggart Modesto is a slave to progress, while the more unpretentious Leyton is content with the simple life. Modesto marries Marta, a beautiful young naïf, who longs for the sexual fulfillment Modesto is incapable of providing. And, just as Modesto captures creatures from the sea in his net, it isn't long before the cruel web of destiny entangles Marta and her lover Leyton in a tragic triangle.