In Madrid, Spain, at the end of the 19th century, the young and reckless Basilio seems to be the only person who perceives the spectral presence of Professor Robinsón de Mantua, who begs him to take care of his niece Inés, because she is in grave danger.

After burying his late husband, a young widow leaves his pronvincial life and heads to the city. It was a very hard stage in her life, and she had to bear it with resignation, but now she's willing to make up for lost time. In the train she's travelling to the city she meets a fortune-telling lady.

Fernando has just finished the military service. It decides to buy Bucéfalo, the horse that has been his partner for this time and returns to Madrid removing with it to the animal. But everything has changed, the city already neither is the same and even he nor finds stables nor has time to attend to it. This way the things remedy will...

Madrid, Carnival Sunday. A night watchman finds the body of a woman, a rich and greedy moneylender who has apparently been murdered. The prime suspect is a watchmaker who owed her a lot of money.

Barcelona, in the forties. Young Andrea comes to town to start college in the midst of an oppressive environment and extreme poverty. She's staying at her aunt Angustias, along with other family members. But the quarrels between them are continuous, making evident the open wounds left by the Spanish civil war.