Marina is a wealthy married woman, a mother of three, and a successful choreographer. One day, two friends who are patrons of the arts and sponsor cultural events in Mexico City penitentiaries invite the dance troupe she directs to take part in one of them and perform for the inmates. In prison, the heroine meets José Cuauhtémoc, who is serving a sentence for murder. A love affair with a criminal puts the heroine's exemplary life in jeopardy.

Arriaga, the screenwriter of the cult films 'Amores Abosse,' '21 Grams,' and 'Babel,' has created a dynamic, passionate novel about forbidden love and the deepest contradictions inherent in human nature itself.