In the red-earthed agricultural region of Aragon, a mysterious young man, Angel (Carmelo Gómez), arrives to fumigate the woodlice that are infesting the vines, but which paradoxically give the local wine its distinctly earthy flavor. He becomes entwined with the family of an old farmer, Tomas-his daughter (Emma Suárez), her violent husband, and the husband's mistress (Silke Klein). In this bleak setting where lightning can fry sheep and men alike, Angel is the proverbial outsider who shakes loose more than the earth. His own origins are suspect and perhaps literally alien, as he seems to have a double (convenient for the love triangle that develops!). Sardonic science fiction, Medem's film is anything but earthy, "a story of multiple identity and misprision, of ever-shifting narrative quicksand." (Sight & Sound) "Medem underscores the storyline with...questions about duality, about the physical versus the metaphysical, about imagination, about the importance of death, and perhaps most importantly, about perception." (Jonathan Holland, Cannes '96)