As a result of a chance encounter with a Holocaust survivor on vacation in Mexico City, young attorney Antonio de la Vega learns that his natural father is a former SS officer who committed heinous crimes against the Jews during World War II. Obsessed with the idea of meeting his father, Antonio embarks on a search that takes him from Mexico to the United States and ultimately to South America, meeting ageing ex-Nazis, vengeful Jews, and an alluring young woman who has been assigned to watch his every move. Meanwhile, Antonio's semi-recluse mother is suddenly faced with the possibility that the man she once loved may soon reappear...