In 1980, Ivan de Wiel (Fabrizio Rongione), a Geneva-based private Swiss banker, and his wife Ines (Stephanie Cleau) are combining business and pleasure during a trip to Argentina. Ivan's banking partner, Rene Keys, has disappeared there, and he needs to visit clients and solidify their relationship with the bank. In visits to homes and offices, they hear about the dangers and financial chaos that linger in Buenos Aires four years after the military threw out the government of President Isabel Martineze de Peron.
The bank's clients are wealthy and elite movers and shakers who are used to having things go their way without any complications. They are baffled by Keys' disappearance; rumors about him compound the sense of danger stalking the country. A few people did not appreciate Keys' wheeling and dealing ways, but many others were impressed with his charisma and risk-taking. Ines is worried about her husband's lack of ambition and fears that he will not impress and even lose the business of these Argentinians.
Writer and director Andreas Fontana smoothly captures and conveys the luxurious lifestyle of the self-obsessed clients. One of the wives admits that she is and always has been excruciatingly bored. Then there is a monsignor (Pablo Torre Nilson), a member of the club where the men discuss their money-making ventures. Signs of corruption and political intrigue lie behind every curtain and palm tree .
In his encounters with the wealthy men of Buenos Aires, Ivan has a chance to join them or to take a more noble path. The Roman philosopher Seneca sums up his options: "Many a man found the acquisition of wealth only a change, not an end of miseries."