Chile's Atacama Desert is the driest place on earth. Atop its mountains, astronomers gather to observe the stars. The sky is so translucent they can see right to the boundaries of the universe.
It is also a place where the heat of the sun keeps human remains intact: those of Pre-Columbian mummies
19th century explorers and miners
and the remains of political prisoners "disappeared" by the Chilean army after the military coup of September 1973. So while astronomers examine the most distant galaxies, at the foot of the mountains, surviving relatives of the 'disappeared', search for the remains of their loved ones, to reclaim their families' histories.
Gradually the celestial quest of the astronomers and the earthly one of the Chilean women come together.
