[1] In 1980, Jorge Pellegrini (Ricardo Darín), a young and talented Argentine writer, upon returning from a trip to Europe, is forced to write short love stories for "Cosas", a local, light-themed magazine, to aid his dire financial situation.

In the showing of a short film, based on a story by Jorge, he meets Laura (Soledad Villamil), a passionate, beautiful and charming young girl who works as a waitress in a restaurant.

Things go awry when the police raid the place and take Laura and a group of people who could not show their documents to jail, to be investigated as part of the military operations to maintain the social order during Argentina's dirty war.

Months go by and Jorge buries himself in his work, starts a diary (which he then throws away) and loses hope of receiving Laura's phone call.

The first months are full of romance and passion; however, when Laura decides to quit her job to work for free at a local radio station, Jorge begins to lose interest in her, and is constantly bothered by the monotony of their relationship.

When Jorge reaches the breaking point and cannot stand the current status of his relationship with Laura, he cheats on her with a girl he meets at the magazine (Carola).

Jorge, once again, buries himself in his work for two years, until he receives news from Roberto that, due to a new format, the magazine will no longer publish his stories.

However, due to his failures and disappointments, and to the loss of his spirit and morals, we learn that he now asks for money in return for writing favorable reviews.

One day at the office, due to a disagreement, veteran political journalist Márquez (Ulises Dumont) has a heated exchange with his boss, young Micky (Rodrigo de la Serna) and is fired.