Felipe is a renowned artist from Barcelona who, in order to survive, decides to work double shifts unloading boxes and as a messenger. From that moment on, artistic expression is minimized, the environment becomes distant and congestion looms in a slow combustion. Burnout thus becomes the logical sequel to the film El arte del frío. A discouraging evolution from that comic and wild innocence in which Felipe acts as a heroic hustler, to the man who finally gives up.