Ugo, magician and “grouchician” (as he defines himself), lives from drink to drink in a crowded, eclectic working-class neighborhood that seems like a setting from another era – a place where working is frowned upon and one can have anything except for obligations. There, he drags his feet on an existentialist nighttime walk, wandering through the labyrinthine refuge of the neighborhood streets in his own mind.

Alma returns to Mexico seeking the man who caused the loss of her childhood home. He is not easily found, but the road to him brings her closer to her late father, and the secrets he took with him to his grave.