Chili 1973. Two eleven-year-old children: one, timid Gonzalo Infante, from a wealthy family, lives in a chic neighborhood; the other, Pedro Machuca, from a farming family, lives in a shantytown.
These two children who have nothing in common nevertheless meet at school thanks to the idealistic initiatives of Father Mac Enroe. The principal of an upper-crust Catholic college in Santiago, he wants to integrate underprivileged children among the school’s pupils. He wants to teach all of them respect and tolerance at a time when the political and social climate is deteriorating throughout the country.