Stories are the stuff of people's lives. Pedro's life for example: an obscure screenwriter with novelist ambitions, waiting for an opportunity to publish his manuscript. Or Trinidad's life: a retired actress and novelist married to a gambling lawyer and also awaiting the publication of her novel. Personal histories complicate life, involving meetings with strangers. Like the card-playing lawyer who, crippled with debt, gambles his wife's fortunes with an indiscreet secretary.