Barcelona, Spain, at the end of the 19th century. Joaquín Rius, a prominent businessman, marries the young Mariona Rebull. Their apparent happiness is overshadowed by the arrival of Ernesto Villar, Joaquín's friend and Mariona's former lover.

Four friends pretend a cruise to escape their wives and go clubbing, but they are forced to go through face-saving shipwreck, becoming castaways.

Currito, raised in a Seville hospice, ekes out a living while trying to become a bullfighter.