A Spanish family's seaside vacation becomes a tense, seriocomic exploration into xenophobia when they stumble across an illegal African immigrant stranded upon the beach after an accident destroyed his raft and left his traveling companion dead. When patriarch Antonio, a somewhat dim-witted taxi driver, sees the miserable Ombasi huddled around a campfire, he is immediately suspicious and frightened for his family. Unfortunately, they lose their car keys and have no choice but to remain with the mysterious foreigner, who speaks no Spanish. At first, the film takes a humorous look at the family's struggle to communicate with the stranger, but then three racist skinheads arrive and the story takes a much darker turn.