In a city of the too near future, a city designated for desolation, aggression, and political instability, Miguel Galvan (Hugo Soto) is shot accidentally during a demonstration. This time and space provides a back drop to an intriguing sequence of events where three characters try desperately to survive: the wounded Miguel, an antagonistic policeman (Juan Leyrado), and a foolish vigilante smartly acted by cult rock star Charly Garcia of Sui Generis and Serú Girán fame, who also composed the film's score.

The Night of the Pencils was a series of kidnappings and forced disappearances, followed by the torture, rape, and murder of a number of young students during the last Argentine dictatorship (known as the National Reorganization Process). The kidnappings took place over the course of several days beginning on September 16, 1976.

A turbulent era in Argentine politics is highlighted in this well-wrought drama, set in Buenos Aires at the end of 1945, about Clara (Graciela Borges), a young, half-Jewish woman awakening to the reasons behind the political conflicts of her time and place. Clara's father was a Communist who fought the Nazis in Argentina and possessed a list of the top Nazi exiles and their contacts. Through a former lover, Clara -- a successful broadcast journalist -- begins to see her Jewish roots (and the leftists) in a whole new light. Meanwhile, the political storms sweeping through Argentina are setting the stage for the Peronist government to come.