A former public-services worker wants to return to his job. In the attempt, he meets wandering people, who seek "parallel ways" of survival in a chaotic socio-political context in Chile, after the 1973 Coup d'état .
Pancho and José Santos, bandits from Teno, known by their fondness of tearing their enemies' faces, meet after four years for another robbery. After re-telling their adventures, they cross paths with Saturnino who has old accounts to settle with them.
A taxi driver finds Marlene, a provincial woman, lost in a brothel. Immediately he decides to help her out and take her at his place. Little by little, his paternal protection turns into a bizarre passion