Irene is thirty-seven years old and has just been released from prison after serving four years for terrorist involvement. On her first night out, she goes from bar to bar, picks up a stranger and spends the night with him in a hotel. He treats her badly, she attacks him and escapes. She decides to return to her native Bilbao, and while waiting at a bus stop in Barcelona, she is approached by a man she believes to be a policeman in civilian clothes. By attaching herself to two nuns, she manages to get on the bus without him, and her journey begins.
Other passengers on the bus include another plainclothes policeman, who is joined by the first one further down the line. Conversations begin and a complicated game of hide-and-seek begins between strangers, who open up a little, make advances and distractions, and evade nimbly. As the bus makes its way across Spain and the travellers come increasingly into focus, Atxaga builds up a tension that is not resolved until they arrive in Bilbao.