Sam is raised in New York for eight years, and then returns to Chile with his mother after his parents divorce. Unloved by his father and seemingly abandoned by his type-A mother, Sam is left in the "care" of his sexually abusive nanny. His cohorts at the American school are Mike, an American whose father has made a fortune from Chilean onions; Isabel, whose mother suffers from depression that stems from the disappearance of her father and brother; and Daniela, whose mother is dead and whose father is an alcoholic. On summer vacation together, the four find an abandoned house and there act out (not without humor) the evils that have befallen them. As they dialogue and play-act, an empathetic maturity arises and catharsis ensues.