 The lives of the inhabitants of El Callejon de los Milagros, in downtown Mexico City, are closely knitted as the threads of a rug. Fifty-something Don Ru (Gomez Cruz) owns a small "cantina" where all the men spend afternoons playing domino. He s tired of his longtime marriage with Eusebia (Casanova) and has recently discovered new feelings inside his heart. It doesn t matter if these feelings are not aimed to a young lady but to a young clerk (Soberanes): after all, as one of the characters says, "it s platonic love". Don Ru s son Chava (Bernal) doesn t like what he sees and almost kills his father s lover. Running away from Don Ru s anger, Chava escapes to the USA with his friend Abel (Bichir) who s deeply in love with beautiful Alma (Hayek), the daughter of Dona Cata (Rojo), a tarot reader with bad luck in love. Susanita (Sanz), the ugly landlady looking for love; Guicho (Tovar), Don Ru s cinic employee, Maru (Scanda), Don Fidel (Obregon), Dona Flor (Morett), Zacarias (Woolrich) and mean Jose Luis (Gimenez Cacho) complete the cast of characters of this complex portrait of lives.