When a worker is found murdered on the construction side, the investigation swiftly turns from things criminal to the political circumstances surrounding the building itself. Widespread corruption and neglect by the builder himself are seen to have brought the situation about. Much of the movie is filmed using hand-held cameras, and the majority of the dialogue is in the difficult-to-understand and very slangy Spanish dialect of Mexico City's bricklayers.
A plague is spreading through 16th century Mexico, and the Inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church is rooting out Jews, for they are believed to be its cause. At his father's funeral, a monk observes his family practicing Jewish burial rite, and he reports them, leading to devastating consequences for the whole family.
Jory is a fifteen-year-old boy who joins a horse-drive after his father is killed by a drunkard. The drive's leader and a likable cowhand take the boy under their wing, and find that tragedy has taught him how to take care of himself better than anyone could expect.
