The Central American country is engulfed in the final stages of a civil conflict, a war between rebels of the Sandinista National Liberation Front and government troops that is about to explode.

An American military advisor, arriving in the community to establish a preparation camp, seeking to carry out prevention actions to avoid direct attacks in the "red zones," meets Alsino, who had been brought to him by guards after trying to escape from a battalion patrolling the area.

In one of his attempts to fly, Alsino jumps from the tall tree and falls abruptly to the ground; the impact dislocates his shoulder and neck, leaving him with a hunchback.

Alsino witnesses the cruelties that the military forces inflict on those suspected of being insurgents, and in one of these raids, he meets several characters who awaken in him a longing for freedom, generating sympathy towards the Sandinista rebels.

After learning of his grandmother's death, and following the failure of "Operation Cóndor," whose helicopter is bayoneted and shot down, Alsino decides to join the guerrilla ranks where he becomes fully involved in the conflict.