Set in Lima, the capital of Peru, at the end of the 1980s, the film unfolds during a time of political instability, severe economic crisis, and violence tied to the internal conflict in Peru. Three stories braid across generations, each carrying its own quiet storms and hard-won moments of humanity.
In the first thread, Lizardo, Carlos Gassols and his wife Cucha, an elderly couple who have lost their only child, own several properties. Their days are largely spent collecting rent from tenants, monitoring every detail of their expanding holdings, and slowly turning their shared grief into a singular goal: constructing a mausoleum for their deceased child. The heaviness of memory lingers over their routines as they navigate the precarious world around them, where stability is fragile and the future feels uncertain.
The second thread follows Humberto, Gustavo Bueno, a successful radio broadcaster whose program has become a beacon of hope for listeners in a city roiled by unrest. He carries the weight of loneliness and a facial deformity resulting from a past accident, yet his voice still carries warmth and a sense of possibility. After rescuing a depressive woman from a suicide attempt by a cliff, he shelters her and she becomes the woman he calls “Veronica,” a name that offers both tenderness and distance. Veronica bears a visible scar on her stomach, a reminder of intimacy that she feels distance from, shaping how she lets others in and how Humberto navigates their fragile connection.
The third thread centers on Meche, a blind woman who lives in a humble hut near a cliff with her grandsons. Meche’s relationship with them is complicated—she can be harsh and controlling, pushing them to scavenge at the dumps to feed Campeón, a pig that Lizardo and Cucha once gifted. Meche hopes to secure money by selling the pig to pay for a cure for her blindness, a plan that sits at the intersection of desperation and determination. This story threads through the emotional landscape of care, reliance, and the harsh realities that define daily life in a vulnerable part of the city.
This last tale draws directly from the Peruvian classic Los gallinazos sin plumas by Julio Ramón Ribeyro, grounding the film in a rich literary tradition that threads grit, humor, and social observation into its fabric. Across these intertwined stories, the film paints a portrait of resilience in the face of hardship, the stubborn pull of family bonds, and the quiet courage found in everyday choices.
Together, the three narratives offer a panoramic view of a city and a country in flux, where memory and longing collide with practical demands, and where ordinary people strive to carve out small spaces of dignity amid upheaval.
