Summary

In the present, Blanca reveals to Maya that Manuel was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm ten years ago, and that he could die at any moment. Manuel lives so close to death that he has made peace with it, allowing him to live tranquilly in the present. Maya believes Manuel and Blanca love each other, having had a one-night stand in the 1970s when Blanca’s father took Manuel in after the government banished him to Chiloé. Maya wonders why they don’t simply admit their feelings and use whatever time they have to be happy together (Blanca is in remission from breast cancer, but could also get sick again very suddenly).

Maya realizes Manuel allows her to live with him and disrupt his calm lifestyle as a Chilote way of paying forward the favor Don Lionel Schnake did him decades earlier. Since...