The Incident

Rogue cop Marco emerges from hiding and arrests both brothers in their apartment, pressing them toward the police station at gunpoint. Oliver explains he confessed under duress and begs forgiveness, but Carlos demands to see a warrant that Marco admits he does not have. The confrontation sets off the brothers' desperate flight.

Using the moment of distraction, the brothers overpower Marco and sprint down the stairwell. Marco shoots Carlos in the leg during the pursuit, but appears shocked by his own action. The chase intensifies as they try to escape the building.

They reach the stairs only to discover they loop endlessly, with the environment bending back on itself. Realizing they are trapped in a repeating dimension, they scramble to find a way out but every turn returns them to the same place.

Marco rifles through his wallet during a lull and uncovers a miniature playing card he does not recognize, tearing it into pieces and ignoring its significance. The moment hints at a larger, unknowable pattern at work.

Oliver administers first aid to Carlos, but the injury proves fatal, and Carlos bleeds to death the next day. Before dying, he urges Oliver to appreciate the present and to live in the moment, a poignant final lesson.

One cycle later, a vending machine on the stairwell is restocked exactly as it was 24 hours earlier, a chilling sign that time is looping. Marco is visibly unsettled by the pattern, realizing the loop is self-perpetuating.

Enraged by Marco's indifference, Oliver disarms him and threatens to kill him. The two argue about the nature of reality and fate, trying to rationalize their bizarre predicament. The confrontation leaves them at a stalemate as the loop continues.

Sandra and her children Daniel and Camila prepare to visit her ex-husband, while Daniel brings a deck of miniature cards similar to the one Marco found. Roberto, Sandra's husband, is anxious about the long drive but hopeful for a chance to bond with the kids.

On the road they stop at a gas station, where Roberto carelessly offers Camila juice; she has an allergic reaction and begins an asthma attack. Roberto notices a piece of green bamboo in the car and discards it, not understanding its significance.

Roberto accidentally destroys Camila's inhaler, and a distant explosion compounds the panic. Daniel realizes he forgot to pack the backup inhaler, and Camila dies without relief.

Believing they are trapped in a nightmare, Sandra abandons the car with Daniel and Camila's body, while Roberto steps off to seek help. Daniel carries his sister's body and heads in the opposite direction, and eventually all converge at the same point, surrendering to hopelessness.

Thirty-five years pass and both groups remain stuck in their respective loops. Each day they find fresh copies of their possessions, which pile into towering mountains as they struggle to live repetitive lives; the elderly couple's rituals contrast with Daniel's growing independence.

Older Roberto and Marco reveal that none of this is real but an alternate dimension split from their actual lives. The cycle is fed by their emotions and trauma, creating a layer of reality atop the original events.

Roberto urges young Daniel to resist his fate to break the cycle, while the elderly Marco urges younger Oliver to do the same. The plea underscores a hope that individual choices might alter the looping fate.

Daniel chooses to follow his fate and enters a police car, becoming Marco and heading to arrest Oliver and Carlos. Oliver leaves the apartment complex and becomes Karl, a Russian bellhop, triggering a new dimension and restarting the 35-year cycle anew.