The Mexican painter Francisco Goitia, feeling his death approaching, manages to make a memory of his life: the reunion with his country and his people, his permanent search for identity as a man and as an artist and his struggle against the demons of the body and his subsequent religious conversion.

When King Motecuzoma dies in 1468, a drought sets upon the Mexicas' land. The younger Motecuzoma sends a retinue to collect tributes from the peasants and make an offering to Coatlicue at Aztlán, the home of their ancestors. The peasant Ollin finds a discarded tribute and makes his own journey to Aztlán to appease his rulers.