In 1979, a group of friendly families comment on the return of an old acquaintance who will disturb the life in their residential estate. They all know one another due to having been active in anti-Franco political parties. Twenty-five years later Julián, the son of one of them, sets out to reconstruct what has become of them, their children, their successful professional careers, some in large companies, others following literary careers. While telling their stories, Julián hopes to shed light on a number of dark areas: who betrayed his mother in the sixties, why did that acquaintance return in that very year, how were those moments of apparent hope and happiness destroyed in 79, and why had he and his friends never been able to make a place for themselves in the world? In his excavation into the past, Julián uncovers the chess game the friends played that year, a metaphor for the decisions, triumphs and defeats of a country.