Paul (Willem Dafoe) is an American composer who travels to a remote Mexican village to settle his recently deceased father's affairs. He discovers a photograph of a young woman belonging to his father whom he is determined to find. Using a prototype 'real-time' translation device, Paul ambles through the pueblo mágico of Real de Catorce asking bemused locals for the whereabouts of Marianne. Soon, a three-person film crew arrives in town looking to complete a documentary, which they describe as a 'story of opposites'. Daniel (Andrés Almeida) and Fernanda (Cassandra Ciangherotti) piece together seemingly unconnected vignettes of village life, unaware that a miracle is about to be gifted to them. Paul and Daniel eventually cross paths in the enigmatic village and the result is an intellectual joust staged within an ancient amphitheatre.