Luisa is a young poet with a dilemma - whether to follow the official way or avant-garde path. Temptation appears in the form of the Rimbaud Award, a prestigious prize for young poets. To win it would mean recognition as the brilliant new name in Spanish poetry. Enrique, her friend and publisher, suggests she write a realist, human poem appealing the test of the members of the jury. But Luisa prefers a cold, hermetic approach. During the seven day prior to the deadline of the Award, Luisa seeks purification, catharsis, by attempting to eliminate all those educational, family and social ties that adversely affect her poetry.