Officially independent for one century, in reality Panama has only been freed three years ago from its North American supervision. Following the path and testimony of four Panamanians, this film traces the story of a multicultural and multiracial country, struggling in search of its identity.

Wealth and doom of Panama, its canal bathes in two oceans, a link between two Americas, North and South. In this narrow isthmus, a notably strategic part of the world, then under Columbian control, the French Ferdinand de Lesseps decided to materialize the Spanish conquistadors’ dream to join the Atlantic to the Pacific.

When the project took form, tens of thousands of Natives from the Antilles, Europeans and Americans precipitated themselves in this small country covered in jungle. But the endeavor soon turned into a tragedy. Exhausted and sick, 20,000 people died in this pharaonic construction site, which was also the source of a political and financial scandal without precedent in France.

In 1903, Panamanians, backed by the United States, stirred up and recuperated their sovereignty at last. In a time of assessment, four of them from different races, cultures and social backgrounds, question the meaning of being Panamanian today. Should one place any hopes on a canal at a country’s service, or on a country at a canal’s service, not to mention, globalization?