1981 God, Buenos-Ajres. Argentina vo vlasti voyennoy diktatury. Inspektor politsii Khoakin Al'sada yezhednevno stalkivayetsya s realiyami zhizni pri repressivnom rezhime i mnozhestvom napugannykh i otchayavshikhsya lyudey. Samyye trudnyye dela - o propavshikh lyudyakh, ikh s kazhdym dnem stanovitsya vse bol'she. Al'sada starayetsya derzhat'sya podal'she ot politiki, no kogda bessledno ischezayet yego revolyutsionno nastroyennyy brat, professor Khorkhe Rodol'fo, inspektor ne ostanovitsya ni pered chem v stremlenii yego spasti. Dvadcat' let spustya. Strana okhvachena ocherednym razrushitel'nym krizisom. V Buenos-Ayrese to i delo proiskhodyat ulichnyye besporyadki. Al'sada dorabatyvayet posledniye mesyatsy pered vykhodom na pensiyu, po-prezhnemu starayas' «ne vysovyvat'sya», pomnya, chto imenno eta liniya povedeniya spasla mnogim zhizn'. Odnazhdy k nemu popadayet delo ob ischeznovenii molodoy zhenshchiny iz privilegirovannoy stolichnoy sem'i. Yego rassledovaniye stanet dlya Al'sady boleznennym napominaniyem o yego prichastnosti k sobytiyam samogo mrachnogo perioda v istorii strany i poslednim shansom pokayat'sya.