Following a banking crisis, the abandoned 200-meter-tall skyscraper rising up into the Caribbean sky in downtown Caracas was squatted and used for dwelling by 750 families. This high-rise community was labeled a "vertical slum" by politicians, architects and some of its neighbors in downtown Caracas. Ignored by the municipal administration and dreaded by the rest of the neighborhood, the inhabitants of Torre Confinanzas are working on their own model of a socialist microcosm. Ruina portrays the difficulties and achievements in building a community.