Content Warning: The source material and study guide contain discussion of murder, torture, political persecution, anti-LGBTQ+ bias (including anti-gay slurs), racism, addiction, suicidal ideation, and child sexual abuse.

In a Buenos Aires prison in 1975, Luis Alberto Molina (Molina), 37 years old and convicted of sexually corrupting minors, is talking to her roommate, Valentin Arregui Paz (Valentin). Valentin is 26 years old and detained for political involvement. 

As they try to fall asleep in their shared prison cell, Molina recounts the details of a movie. The main character in the movie is Irena, a refugee in the US who fears she will become a panther if a man kisses her. Nevertheless, she falls in love with and marries an architect. To manage her fears, Irena agrees to go to a psychiatrist, but he makes her nervous, so she stops going without her husband knowing. 

Valentin interrupts Molina’s story throughout to ask questions, to offer his thoughts, and to make snide remarks that anger Molina. Nevertheless, Molina continues, explaining that Irena’s husband starts spending more time with his assistant, who’s in love with him. When Irena sees them together, she suspects an affair, and she turns into the panther as she follows the assistant into a park.