Let's says that we have a Contact that only can have one country assigned.

In model/contact.php

<code php>
class Contact extends ActiveRecord
{
	var $belongs_to = array('country'=>array('foreign_key'=>'country_id'));		 
}
</code>

In model/country.php

<code php>
class Country extends ActiveRecord
{
	var $has_many = 'contacts';	 
}
</code>

Then in the controller/contact.php
<code php>
    function show()
    {  		
 	$this->Contact->country->load(); 
    } 
</code>

Now in contact.show.tpl we just show the country 
<code php>
          {contact.country.name} 
</code>