In this screenplay, Gabriel Garcia Marquez gives his contemporary version of Sophocle's Oedipus Rex. He replaces the Greek tragedy in present day Colombia, where the violence takes on the same meaning as the Thebes plague in Sophocles work. Alike Oedipus in the Greek tragedy, the Mayor must punish Layo's murderers. His investigation directs him to the numerous armed group that exist in Colombia: paramilitary groups, guerilleros, druglords'henchmen, legal army, etc... And as the antique play, Layo's premonitory dream comes tue: Oedipius becomes his father's murderer, his mother's husband, and his brother's father...