Mario and Ana, in voluntary exile from Buenos Aires, live in a remote Argentine valley with their 12-year-old son Ernesto. Mario runs a school and a wool cooperative; Ana, a doctor, heads a clinic with Nelda, a progressive nun. Into this idealistic family comes Hans, a jaded Spanish geological engineer -- surveying the land for the local patron, to see if it can be dammed for hydro-electric power, which would drive the peasants from the land into the cities.

Jim Conrad, a reluctant hitman, is ordered to Buenos Aires to complete one last contract. The task becomes complicated when the intended victim proves to be a well-protected man accompanied by a beautiful mistress who has caught Conrad's eye.