Just before the 1992 Olympic Games: "Barcelona, get yourself ready!" proclaims the pre-Olympic marketing, which primarily means the ruthless transformation of the city's landscape. Parts of the old town, such as the red-light district Barrio Chino, are being spruced up for tourists or disappearing altogether. The long-established Catalan Pepe Carvalho has two disappearances to investigate. On one hand, he is to track down the 17-year-old publisher's daughter Beba, who has fallen into the drug scene. On the other hand, there is a flamboyant couple from Paris looking to find the Greek artist Alekos "dead or alive," suspecting he is in the same circles. So, Pepe Carvalho, who would prefer not to take his eyes off the beautiful Frenchwoman, sets off into the underbelly of Barcelona, threatened by the Olympic renovation frenzy. In this labyrinth of property tycoons and aging bohemians.