The childhood, love adventures, and ordinary life of Tasio, a coal maker in rural Navarre.

Opening at the funeral mass for Mikel, we flashback to those that played a part in Mikel's life and death; his estranged wife, his traditional Basque mother, a female impersonator and friend to Mikel in his coming out, and even the local priest.

King Carlos II of Spain (r. 1665-1700) once sent his brother Luis to lead a military expedition into Albania and conquer that land for the Spaniards. Since Albania was a part of the dowry of Luis' wife, it seemed like a reasonable idea at the time. While that expedition and its final battle is the subject of this historical film, the scale involved can hardly do justice to the concept. The protagonists talk incessantly, and by the time they get down to the final grand battle, it turns out to be a skirmish between several dozen men.

After of living in France for fifteen years, Lucas, a journalist with a dark past, returns to Bilbao, his hometown. He begins an intense romance with a young woman, but a series of circumstances will make the intimacy of the couple almost impossible.