Juan Carlos and his friend Manuel were still teenagers when Catalina Villar first filmed them 18 years ago in Medellin which, at the time, was the most violent city in the world. Soon after, Juan Carlos, the poet, was killed. On the eve of a time of fragile peace, his illiterate parents seek legal compensation. Manuel, who has become the leader of his neighbourhood, is confronted to the paradoxes of urban modernization in a city that has transformed too quickly. The ghost of Juan Carlos rises as a shield against oblivion.
