At a screening in New York of documentary material smuggled out of Latin America, Anna runs into Paul, a Canadian journalist, whom she passionately resents. As the events on the screen evoke those of her own life in that turbulent continent, merging past and present, we gradually discover why. Anna and Ben Willing had their home in South America in the early seventies. They lived in a small country house on Ben's salary from the university. Among their few friends are the Araya sisters, Eva and Monica, both divorced, brilliant and beautiful though different in every way. Eva is social secretary to the President's wife. When a military coup paralyses the country, Ben is in the city. Anna, cut off and distraught, has her first crisis of self- awareness. When Ben returns, he realises that the collapse of normality has shocked Anna out of her emotional isolation. Eva is arrested, and after a nightmare of senseless degradation, is released. Paul meets Anna and rallies her assistance in setting up a group for the purpose of channeling human rights information abroad. Meanwhile, Monica and Eva are caught up in a grotesque cat-and- mouse game by an uncouth corporal who poses as Eva's protector. In an effort to spare Eva, Monica offers herself instead and is rejected. Eva is forced to give him her body like a sacrificial offering to a rapist. Humiliated, he pleads and threatens in turn. The only escape route for Eva is via an embassy. Anna and her group organise her escape over a wall that separates the Italian Embassy from the convent which has given her shelter. Just before, Paul leaves the country without warning, which makes him suspect of betrayal. (It is only in New York, when Anna challenges Paul, that we learn the true reasons for his departure). Everything is set for Eva's escape. Her family and Ben and Anna are at the convent to see her off. At the appointed hour they move out towards the ladder against the garden wall.