The Place Without Limits

A man drives a truck up to a house and honks the horn. Manuela recognizes the honk as Pancho, the man who has attacked her before, and panics as she wakes the other women in the brothel. She understands the danger is real and the town's troubles are about to spill into her life.

Manuela is sent to Ludovinia to fetch red thread to mend the torn dress. Ludovinia reveals that Don Alejo, the town’s mayor, once favored Pancho and has been systematically buying up property to control everyone. The exchange hints at how power and fear shape the women's lives in this town.

Manuela leaves with the thread and crosses paths with Don Alejo, who offers to purchase the brothel. The offer signals Don Alejo's reach over the town's assets and foreshadows the loss the women will face. It sets up the looming threat of displacement and coercion.

Pancho sits at his brother-in-law Octavio's gas station as the town feels hollowed out. They discuss how Don Alejo has been buying up properties and expanding his control, while the town decays around them. Octavio plans to close the station and laments the mayor's power.

Japonesita walks in looking for Don Alejo and finds Pancho crying after a moment of vulnerability. Pancho warns that Don Alejo is a bad man, but she struggles to accept the danger he represents. The moment deepens the town's sense of looming threat and ambiguous loyalties.

After a dispute over selling the brothel, Japonesita declares she wants to decorate it as La Japonesa would have. Manuela is angered by the sentiment and Japonesita locks herself in their room, opening a chest of La Japonesa's belongings. The scene contrasts present conflict with a remembered, influential past.

A flashback reveals Manuela arriving with dancers for Don Alejo's inauguration while the crowd boos. La Japonesa bets she can arouse Manuela and win ownership of the brothel if she can watch them have sex. Don Alejo agrees to the bargain, showing the coercive power dynamics that underpin the town.

Back in the present, Octavio lends Pancho money to pay off Don Alejo, and the two head toward the brothel to celebrate their supposed freedom. Manuela hides and watches Pancho and Japonesita dance through the window. Pancho insists Japonesita owes him for the tears she witnessed.

Pancho starts to rough up Japonesita to pressure Manuela, who has gone to seek safety elsewhere. Japonesita insists Manuela is not there. Manuela bursts in wearing a red flamenco gown and dances seductively for Pancho; they kiss, until Octavio interrupts.

Pancho turns on Manuela, accusing her of orchestrating the scene to provoke him. Manuela runs away, with Pancho and Octavio in pursuit in a truck. The chase pushes the story toward its deadly conclusion.

Don Alejo and Renaldo follow to the quarry; Renaldo asks whether to shoot Pancho and Octavio, but Don Alejo says no. They corner Manuela, and Pancho delivers a final beating before killing her with a kick to the head. Don Alejo declares that the lesson will be harsh and that they will learn what it means to be macho.

Back at the brothel, another woman expresses worry about Manuela's fate, expecting she will return battered as usual. Japonesita resolves to endure, and the film closes with her turning out the oil lamp, leaving her future uncertain.