Cecilia, a piano teacher, and her husband, Diego, a forestry worker, have lived in the small town of Patagonia for a year. Cecilia was overjoyed to learn that their adoption request had been approved, even though nine-year-old Joel was slightly older than the child she wanted to adopt. Joel was a round-faced, messy-haired, silent and provocative child who once lived with his uncle, who is now in prison. It is because of Joel's past that Cecilia and her husband face many challenges and problems in building a new family for him. Not only is it a slow and painful process for Joel to enroll in a local school, but it is also difficult for him to adapt to the new environment, and there are even comments among parents that Joel will have a negative impact on his classmates. So the family had to choose whether to accept Joel and his violent past or the prejudice of other parents against this little "outsider".
