A somewhat confused and strange young inventor, named Gustavo, is arrested by the police accused of being a terrorist. Through his statements we will know the truth of the facts. During his childhood he discovers that his father wants to escape to a place called Vesta aboard a spaceship made by himself. However, during the journey he loses his life. Now thirty years old, Gustavo, after a series of events, will try to repeat his father's journey.

In Extremadura, Spain, Pascual Duarte, a humble, simple and ignorant peasant, condemned to a boring and humiliating existence with no future, commits a horrible act during a day of such heat that enervates his disturbed mind and his anger, which he will not be able to calm down until, after following a bloody path of senseless violence, he faces his own tragic destiny.

Berta, imprisoned in Franco's Spain on fraud charges, learns to navigate the indignities of prison, spreading her own brand of kindness and empathy to the other inmates, but she unwillingly learns a valuable lesson when she falls in love with one of them.