Jauja

In the 1880s, Danish Captain Gunnar Dinesen travels with his teenage daughter Ingeborg in Argentina. Ingeborg asks if she can have a dog that will follow her wherever she goes. The request hints at her longing for companionship on the long, perilous journey ahead.

Lieutenant Pittaluga asks for permission to take Ingeborg to a dance in exchange for one of his horses. Dinesen refuses, stating that Ingeborg is his daughter and not a prize. He warns Ingeborg to steer clear of Pittaluga and his predatory offers.

Ingeborg becomes involved with a young soldier named Corto. Corto shares rumors with Pittaluga and Dinesen that Zuluaga—an officer who disappeared into the desert—now leads bandits and may be disguised as a woman.

That night, Ingeborg and Corto run away together. Pittaluga offers to retrieve Ingeborg, but Dinesen insists on going after them alone into the desert.

While searching the desert, Dinesen encounters a mortally wounded man whispering the name Zuluaga. He later finds Corto dying with his throat cut and demands to know where his daughter is. A native steals Dinesen’s hat and rifle, leaving him to continue on foot.

Driven on, a dog leads Dinesen to a toy soldier Corto gave Ingeborg, then to a Danish-speaking elderly woman living in a cave. The encounter reveals that there is a surprising family connection connected to his past.

The elderly woman finally confirms that she is Dinesen’s daughter. She tells him to return whenever he likes, and he is left to continue wandering the vast desert with this revelation looming over him.

In the present day, a young girl named Ingeborg wakes up in a grand Danish mansion and goes to check on her dogs. The hound-keeper explains that one dog is nervous and its fur is being scratched away by her long absences.

She tends to the dogs and takes one for a walk in the surrounding woods. During the ramble, she finds a toy soldier on the ground, hinting at a connection to her past.

Hearing a disturbance from her dog, she searches but finds only ripples on a pond and no sign of the dog. In a final gesture, she casts the toy soldier into the pond, sealing the moment with mystery.