While the whole world gets shocked by news on life on Mars, a group of friends lives imprisoned in a mechanical choreography, a farce that can hardly be considered as life.

Sergio, Mali and Luz reluctantly agreed to spend Christmas in the country with their mother; in part because of the guilt they feel about saying no when she has just come out of the hospital after a heart attack, but also because it would be nice to escape from their frustrations for a while.

Among gunshots and boleros, a passionate relationship flourishes between a lonely transvestite and a young guerrilla during the Pinochet dictatorship.

As a director and his crew shoot a controversial film about Christopher Columbus in Cochabamba, Bolivia, local people rise up against plans to privatize the water supply.