Enrique Díaz receives an old gas station as an inheritance from his father, but decides that the best thing to do is to get rid of it, because of its bad memories. However, in the process he learns that his life is in danger thanks to an outstanding debt his father left him with a desert demon.

13-year-old Clara works as her father’s assistant in an informal dental office, which is located above a Peruvian-Chinese restaurant. At lunch time, a new patient arrives who isn’t registered for an appointment that day, causing Clara suspicion.

Juan, a young man convicted of terrorism, is given amnesty from a Lima prison; he boards a bus to return home and, in his mind's eye, recalls events in his village near Huaraz when he was 10 or 12. His father is long dead, his mother lives with Fermin, secretly a sympathizer with the Communist guerrillas in the hills. Town leaders are assassinated at night. When Juan discovers Fermin's secret, Juan is spirited away to the guerrillas to learn Marxist slogans and how to fight. When the band decides to attack the town to avenge the death of a comrade, Juan must choose.