Spain, 1944, a country in turmoil, times are hard. Almost bankrupted by his late father`s gambling debts, Ricardo, is forced to scrape a living as a shoe-shine boy, in order to care for his recently widowed sister and to keep them in their family home. Ricardo and his life-long buddies work together as a gang, extracting money from debtors for the town`s rich and powerful. When the code of loyalty, that has bonded the four friends for so long, is tested to the limit, it takes them on a terrifying journey into an increasing spiral of violence.