Because his papers are not in order, the man in this story(Gregorio Casal), has been expelled from the country he has been visiting. For the same reason, he cannot enter the neighboring country. Instead, he is stuck on a bridge connecting the two. But he is a man of principle; when his plight becomes public knowledge in both countries, and each country is prepared to relax its rules and let him in, he refuses to leave the bridge, on the grounds that the rules themselves need to be changed. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi