Through the files of Cuban cinema news program Noticieros ICAIC Latinoamericanos, the documentary shows the most relevant events of the second half of the 20th century as seen by the documentary filmmakers of the island. During three decades and under the general direction of Santiago Álvarez, these moviemakers witnessed almost everything: from the shivers of the Cold War to Bola de Nieve's piano solos; from the discovery of the killing fields in Cambodia to the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. In 2009, the original negatives of Noticieros ICAIC Latinoamericanos were declared part of the "world memory" by UNESCO.
Revolves around a love triangle that later evolves into a love square involving three Cubans and a Soviet soldier. Set in a fictitious rural village near a Soviet military base in central Cuba, their amorous adventures, or misadventures, unravel against the backdrop of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
Lorenzo, a Cuban policeman specializing in grave robberies is sent to Havana to investigate the death of a Havana-born German national, Hermann (or German in Spanish) found in a famous grave. Lorenzo recounts his findings to the police chief (Major Anancio) as he investigates Dora, an elevator operator and Herrmann's landlady, Aguila and Silvia (who work for Cultural Affairs), Chrissy (a British-born Socialist Internationalist lover), Xiomara (Hermann's mother and a local drag queen as well), a dwarf, and a false Guatemalan who had raped Chrissy during her internationalist "love/sex campaign" in Guatemala. These are the main, but not the only characters, one must absolutely follow to make sense of the plot.
A satire about the life of the Cuban people. Alicia, a culture instructor, is sent to a small town "Maravillas", which is itself an exaggerated, but very ingenious reflection of the real Cuba. The adventures that she has there are almost as crazy and senseless as the ones lived by the other Alice (in Wonderland), reflecting the indoctrination, coercion, absolutims, and many other everyday problems in Cuban society.
It reflects the transformation which a woman undergoes in the crisis of personal fulfillment that her husband is going through. In the middle of a complex process, marked by contradictions and failures, she will grow and express her independence as a human being. She will be another woman, determined to continue the difficult and unknown daily struggle.