Nicolas has been anticipating there would be a small fortune awaiting him when he is released from jail, his share of the loot from the job that sent him inside and his payment for keeping silent so his partner could stay free. His plan is to retire quietly with the money and do his best to make it up to his wife and son for abandoning them. Unfortunately he finds there is no money left, and his former partner is verging on bankruptcy. As little as wants to, he may just have to break into one more safe if he wants to retire.

On his first day out of prison Angel meets Victoria standing outside of the pornographic cinema that she's taken to haunting during the day. At 20 he's only three years older then she is, and they immediately form a bond. He encourages her to try and go back to school one more time and even more importantly to dare and believe in her dream of dancing. Angel was given the gift of the perfect crime by a fellow prisoner before he left, and if he can pull it off their future will be secure.

He has the plans for gaining access to a safe that is full of money that won't be reported as stolen, because it is the illicit profits of a protection racket. Even better it is run by people who used to work for Pinochet as torturers so if the robbery was carried off successfully it would be enacting a measure of revenge on some of those who managed to escape justice. The only problem is that he needs a safe cracker.

Angel sets out to woo Nicolas with the same amount of intensity and passion he brings to his campaign to make Victoria believe in herself. Gradually the three very different peoples' lives begin to intertwine as they each look to the other for salvation and support. In the end it's because of Victoria that Nicolas decides to go through with the plan. She had failed a vital school entrance exam and then degraded herself by selling oral sex to men in the pornographic theatre where Angel first met her, before falling deathly ill.

There are plenty of people in Santiago, Chile who don't think justice was ever done, and that compensation is owed to the victims of Pinochet's regime. In Victoria and the robbery they see their opportunities to do both. A police officer with a conscience, a teacher in Victoria's school, her dance teacher, Nicolas' wife and son, and a couple of others all come together to carry out a two-pronged plan.

Since Victoria's dream is to dance on a major stage, they take over Santiago's Metropolitan Theatre after it's closed for the night through the simple expedient of having the police officer telling the staff there is a bomb threat and they all must leave the building. The plotters take seats in the front row and Victoria dances for them. Like any other patron of the arts they also put up money to help stage the second act - the robbery, for which they are all repaid with interest.