1987: George is a bus driver working in Glasgow, who has developed a reputation as a bullhead among his collegues and as an insubordinate among his superiors. Again and again he give passenger who do not have enough money a free ride, like Carla, a woman from Nicaragua. When his boss finds out about this, it is added to a list of small insubordinations, and George is fired.
However, he stays in touch with Carla fascinated by her beauty although she shows not much interest for him. But George does not give up, he follows her to the refugee home, is upset by her situation and organizes a room in a friend's apartment.
The closer the two get the more he realizes that she is far more in trouble than he imagined. She is given to dramatic mood swings and attempts suicide. Step by step he learns that her emotional problems stem from a traumatic experience: as a dancer in folklore troupe in Nicaragua she became the victim of a guerilla attack. She had to watch her boyfriend Antonio, a Sandinista, being tortured. Since then Antonio has disapeared and is believed to have been kidnapped by the U.S.-backed Contra rebels. George understands that if Carla and him have a future they first have to face the past.
Therefore the largely apolitical George travels with Carla to Nicaragua to help her look for Antonio. In their travels, they meet Bradley, an American who was once a CIA "advisor" to the Contra who has turned his back on their policies and now works alongside the Sandinistas.