Molina is singing when Valentin receives a letter from his current girlfriend explaining that a comrade has been killed on behalf of the cause. He relays this information, written in code, to Molina. Valentin explains that members of his political group refuse to engage in emotionally intimate relationships in case they have to sacrifice themselves. His first girlfriend, Marta, joined the cause with him but later left it, and they separated. 

Still sick from the food, Valentin has a bout of diarrhea, which Molina helps clean up. As he gets weaker, Valentin starts to open up to Molina, talking about the family of the comrade who was killed and then confessing that—to his deep shame—he loves Marta in part because of her bourgeois background and demeanor. When he drifts off to sleep, this guilt bleeds into memories of the movie Molina has been recounting.

Puig includes a report from the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic detailing Molina and Valentin’s time in the penitentiary. Sentenced in 1974, Molina was transferred to live with Valentin in 1975. Valentin has been detained since 1972 and at one time served in solitary confinement.