The story follows Angel (González), twenty years old and barely employed, a man of few friends and a not too promising boxing career. Angel and his mother scrape out a living in Madrid. Enter Vidal, a professional bank robber and a real charmer, just back from Argentina. A former boxer with past ties to Angel's mother and his deceased father, he offers Angel a way out of his dead-end life. Along the way, Angel will have to decide who he truly wants to be and, more importantly, what he's willing to give up.
Caye is a young prostitute whose family is unaware of her profession. She meets her striking Dominican neighbour Zulema, an illegal immigrant, after she finds her in the bathroom, badly beaten up. They strike up a close friendship unbeknownst to Caye's xenophobic co-workers.
Suspected of murder, fifteen year-old Ramón Fortuna is held in a detention centre. He feels as if he has woken from a dream, a dream lived in Vallecas, a working-class neighborhood in Madrid. His childhood is over. His mother and sister have dedicated their lives to him; now, although convinced of his innocence, they are powerless. His lawyer Marcelo - another son of El Barrio - is reluctant to take the case, happier to sever all ties with his secret past and a love long lost.