一位叫鲁提欧的中年酒吧老板因有同性恋倾向而因此引来一场家庭风暴，其子恰瓦则一心想赴美国淘金出人投地，极力怂恿他的好友艾贝与他一起前往美国淘金，但艾贝因已爱恋上了他的邻居女儿艾咪塔而无意与他一同前往美国。有一天，恰瓦忍无可忍，动手打伤了他父亲拼上的一位小白脸，怆惶逃离哀求他好友艾贝与他一起偷渡去美国淘金，艾贝也为了去搛点钱来迎娶自己的情人，乃和恰瓦一起偷渡来到了美国，而年轻美貌的艾咪塔在贪图金钱的母亲胁迫下，在艾贝去美国淘金后被迫答应下嫁给一位富人老头，但却不料此老头在结婚前夕突然暴毙……
Plot Summary:Based on the Nobel Prize Winner's novel, the Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz. The story, translated from El Cairo to Mexico City's downtown, narrates the life of the members of the neighbourhood and the connection between them Don Ru, the owner of the local pub; Eusebia, his wife; Chava, his son and Abel his friend, who emigrate to USA in search of fortune; Susanita, the single landtender always dreaming to marry a good man; Guicho, the pub's employee, who extracts the money when Don Ru is not there and finally marries Susanita; Alma, the very good looking girl, the Abel's dream, who becomes a luxury prostitute while he's away; Jimmy, the handsome young man Don Ru becomes infatuated with, etc. This movie won the Ariel (the Mexican Oscar) as best movie in 1995.
