Martin’s mother, after a bitter exchange of words with father Arturo, falls out of the window and dies. The police decides after thorough investigation that it was suicide. Sixteen-year-old Martin meets Africa, a girl neighbour who is also sixteen. Africa tells him that his father has been having an affair for some time with her mother. Martin, who increasingly dislikes his father, suspects that he was responsible for the death of his mother, who tried to forget her disappointment with life by drinking. When it becomes clear that Africa’s mother and Martin’s father want to get married, Martin decides to murder his father. His plan is egged on by Africa, who sees her mother’s plan to marry as a threat to her freedom.Director Ungria made Africa the Spanish version of the girl with red leather jacket and short skirt and Martin an insecure boy who dreams about his hero Abebe Bikila, the legendary Ethiopian marathon champion. Day after day he runs, not to be champion, but to distinguish himself from his surroundings, a concrete district of apartment blocks, where criminality and unemployment set the tone.
