Aurelio Saravia is a powerful politician who holds office in Uruguay in the mid-1960's. When Aurelio's mistress kills herself, he adopts their illegitimate daughter Masangeles despite the stern objections of his wife Aurora. Masangeles finds herself growing up in a home ruled by a corrupt and self-centered tyrant and his manic colleagues while Uruguay teeters on the brink of civil war as bands of revolutionaries battle government militias. When she turns fourteen, Masangeles discovers a secret passageway in their home that leads to sanctuary in a nearby church which also serves as a storehouse for guns and ill-gotten cash. Teenage Masangeles falls in love with Santiago, her stepbrother who has joined the rebels fighting against the state, and she persuades him to take her virginity.

Montevideo, Uruguay. In this comedic drama, Elisa, 27, dreams of opening her own hairdressing salon in one of the rich districts of the Uruguayan capital. A bit of a rebel, one day Elisa moves out of her mother's house with her two children and breaks up with Garcia, her boss and lover who has infuriated her by not wanting to get married. So, in the space of twenty-four hours, Elisa finds herself without a roof over her head, without a man, without a job and without money. Her best friend Loulou finds her a job - in the brothel run by Dona Jacqueline. And without really being aware of it, Elisa slides into prostitution, which leads her to Barcelona. She falls in love, she is exploited, she gets involved in transvestite gang wars, and meanwhile just dreams of earning enough money for her little beauty salon back home.

Ethel is a 60-year-old psychoanalyst who chose to access documents declassified by the Uruguayan goverment to know the identity of the perpetrators of the death of her husband. His death occured on August 17th 1961 at a University ceremony where Che Guevara delivered one of his first speeches after the revolutionary triumph of the Cuban revolution. The bullet that killed a history teacher was considered a failed attack against Che Guevara planned by the CIA.

Mario and Silvia are a typical Montevidean middle class couple, going through the trauma of retirement. Due to Mario’s oversight in what was to be one of his last operations a small dog dies. Shortly after, Mario and Silvia find that thieves have entered their house. They have no choice but to leave and stay at their daughter’s house, where they will enter a spiral of insecurity and paranoia that will drag them to violence and nonsense.