Lolo lives in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Mexico City. One day he is assaulted and injured out of the factory where he works. After a week of hospitalization, Lolo loses his job and is forced to seek sustenance. The accidental death of an elderly woman, whom Lolo trying to steal a watch that his mother had insisted, facing the young people in your neighborhood and forces him to flee, full of guilt and shame.

On October 2, 1968, a student uprising descends into violence after the Mexican government begins to use lethal force against the protesters.

Raimundo, a wealthy man, died of a heart attack. The notary reads out Raimundo's will, leaving all his estate and companies to the widow, Luz, with the surprising clause that she will remain without a man for the period of two years, during which his trusted attorney, Arturo, will be in possession of the whole patrimony. Luz being much younger than her late husband, resents this clause that will keep her captive of the dead man for so long. Her attempts to seek release in the night spots of the town do not prove satisfying. Lucia, the maid, starts an extortion scheme against the widow, menacing to denounce the murder of Raimundo with venom, as Luz and Arturo were lovers. The faithful cook and the gardener are dismissed and Lucía literally takes her employer's image, clothes, and manners - forcing Luz to play humbly to her (progressively insane) demands.