12th October 1992: a man is released from prison in Guatemala City. He is an Indian. His name is Gaspare and his home is on a garbage dump. His woman, Maria, has been missing for eight years. She is a “desaparecida”. His son, Manolo whom he did not know existed, lives in an orphanage awaiting adoption. What sort of a life can he expect? He takes his son Manolo, who has escaped from the orphanage, with him on his search for Maria. During their way through all Guatemala they will meet a coffin maker, prostitutes, soldiers, guerrillos, a coffee king, a compt governor and a missionary, Padre Tiziano, solitary defender of the Indians and their rights, their land, the high plains. Five hundred years after the discovery of America.