Originally released in its native Peru as Ciudad y los Perros, City and the Dogs is set in a brutal boy's military academy. Juan Manuel Ochoa plays a tough young cadet who rules a student clique called The Circle, which supplies the other boys with forbidden cigarettes, booze and pornography, and even provides answers to upcoming tests. When Ochoa is caught, he places blame on Eduardo Adriazen, the weakest member of the Circle. Adriazen informs on Ochoa, who subsequently kills him. During the investigation of Adriazen's death, the academy tries to cover up the crime lest the institution be destroyed by the scandal. The principal whistle-blower, a sensitive young "outsider" (Pablo Serra), is himself discredited because it is he who has been writing the pornography that Ochoa has been selling. In a bleakly cynical climax, Ochoa is browbeaten by peer pressure into confessing, but the commanding officer (Gustavo Bueno), looking out for his own future, refuses to listen.