In an unnamed Latin American country after a coup d'état, a military junta comes to power. The army deployed to the streets, the civilian population is exposed to hard terror. A wave of arrests follows, some former senators - liberals and communists - are sent to prison. Some patriots that have gone underground try to figure a plan for their release. They buy a small shop opposite the prison in the name of Francisco and Maria Vardes. From its basement they plan to build a 90-meter tunnel. Three years of enormous effort, deaths and nervous breakdowns are not spent in vain. The inmates run away, but while at large, the oldest of them, Senator Miguel Carrera suffers a heart failure. He dies in a safe house on the eve of a meeting with journalists.