In a not too distant future, in the Republic of Chile, the young detective Joyce Nova fulfills her functions in a thin line between law, morality and her particular vision of justice: after having suffered a horrendous crime firsthand and seeing the criminal be protected by the political power in office, her idealization of a just world has become dark and punctual. The closest thing to justice and criminal punishment, for Joyce, will be revenge.
After the tragic death of her eldest son, Blanca and her family travel to the coast of Chile. Weird things happen in the new house, Blanca thinks that it is her son trying to communicate with them, but the truth is much worse. An evil spirit with a thirst for revenge is stalking them. Only the town priest can help them, but the man of the cloth is hiding a terrible secret.
Gustavo Ortíz is a university student from a comfortable, middle class family who is forced to spend his summer vacation cleaning pools when his parents are struck down with financial problems. Ever the optimist, Gustavo soon realizes that his new job provides the perfect excuse to get closer to the girl of his dreams - his neighbor and former classmate, Nicole Ivanov.
Teresa Wilms Montt is a writer, a rebellious woman, tormented and beautiful. He marries at age 17 challenging family opposition. She falls in love with someone she should not and the family court condemns her to confinement in a convent. Separated from her two daughters, she escapes to Buenos Aires with Vicente Huidobro. From that flight her life becomes an exciting and tragic itinerary.
In 1962, a photographer working for a crime reports newspaper in Valparaiso, Chile, is obsessed with creating a photo novel that will revolutionize the art world. Helped by its neighbors, humiliated by their producers, but determined to make his ambitious project a reality, the photographer will betray -one after another- their unusual theories, neighbors, colleagues, their love and finally himself.
Ivan is a kid whose family decides to go back to Chile from New York, after at least a decade away. Ivan of course is not quite the Chilean kid his grandparents would like him to be: he sulks, misses the Opera, finds things odd and ugly, acting like a real "little gringo" (hence the title).