Argentina, November 2001. Julio Färber, the charismatic bandoneon player of the "Vecinos de Pompeya," a five-piece working-class tango band, is trying to keep his head above water, but every month he is earning less and less from their gigs as well as from the traditional shoe shop he inherited from his father. At the very moment he takes the decision to leave his beloved Buenos Aires forever, the government freezes all bank accounts in the whole country, preventing Julio from purchasing his plane tickets. And Mariela, a witty young woman, and feisty cab driver, bumps into his car at full speed, damaging Julio's last possession of value before stealing his heart.