A couple of English tourists arrive at the island of Almanzora, off the Spanish Mediterranean coast, where they discover that there are no adults in a small fishing village, only some children who stare at them and smile mysteriously.
Cecilio Rubes, a businessman engaged in the manufacture of baths and toilets, tries to remain neutral in the imminent Spanish civil war. But the attitude of Cécil, his only child, a spoiled boy who grows without respect their parents, will forced him to face the cruel reality of the facts. Jumping back and forth in time, we are shown his present and his past through his wife Adela and Paulina, the mistress of father and son.
Juanito, a peaceful fan of bullfighting, has become picador's assistant to see from the same arena the show in which he brags he is one of the protagonists. Furthermore, he believes he has discovered in a neighbor a potential figure of bullfighting sphere.
