A 25-year-old woman named Sara leaves her therapist appointment and waits for a taxi in a rain-stricken, present-day New York City. A man around 50 years old comes up to her because he suspects that she is Colombian, as he is Colombian too. He introduces himself as Juan. They get coffee together and exchange information.

They continue to meet, visiting each other's apartments. She is quiet, dealing with the trauma of a past sexual abuse incident that has separated her from her family and friends. She cannot sleep more than two hours every night, and no matter how often she visits her therapist, she makes no progress in revealing her feelings.

As they spend time together, Juan confesses that he is hiding from his family in Madrid and his mistress in Paris. He had been kidnapped back in Colombia for a long time due to his family's status. Sara listens until Juan falls asleep on her couch. To her surprise, she sleeps through the night in her bed. They keep meeting and sleeping in the separate rooms of her apartment for 20 nights before he must go back to his daughter, Azul, and girlfriend in Madrid. They promise to see each other again.

Years pass. Sara makes no effort to contact Juan, nor does Juan contact Sara. She begins to doubt the kidnapping story he told her, but she also sees no reason why it would be false. She moves to Miami, where the rain comforts her and she sleeps through the night. One day, she reads the newspaper and sees an article about a man named Juan who recently died of a pulmonary embolism; he had been kidnapped years before, moved to Madrid, and fathered a daughter, Azul. In Juan's absence, Sara thinks of his stories of his kidnapping, and how he had thought himself cowardly when others saw him as brave.