When young Andrea arrives in Barcelona to begin her university studies, she stays at her aunt Angustias' house, where she lives with several relatives with whom she has constant arguments.

Carlos, veterinary, poet, musician in his spare time and a fun-minded Don Juan,pretends to be his friend Fernando who has inherited a pharmacy in Madrid. There he meets an old girl friend that attracts him.

A decrepit house in Badajoz, Spain, on a cold winter night in 1925. Laura and her mother Adela, who is confined to a wheelchair, are faced with the possibility of putting an end to the grumpy grandfather's life, who is around ninety-two years old. But then, suddenly, cousin Enrique, a doctor by profession, shows up, which will change the course of events…

Given the proximity of death, the experiences of the past come to the memory of Juan. In a fragmented, sometimes confused way, Juan relives the crucial moments of his life, always linked to the names of women. Moments that remind him of having missed numerous opportunities to be happy.

A small family of travelers arrives after a long journey at a village hut, which they claim as home. The family consists of Damian, a mute but skilled hunter, his wife Priscila, and their two children, a mute son named Pablo and a beautiful daughter named Agueda. Before long, Don Rodrigo, the feudal lord of the village, sets his sights on both Priscila and Agueda.

Director José Luis Garci has turned his camera inward on filmmakers and screenwriters to portray them as so self-absorbed in the creative process that there is no other world, no other human relationship that can compete. As José (Adolfo Marsillach) and Federico (Jesus Puente) work together on a new screenplay, their interactions with their family (José's teen daughters, Federico's wife) disappear under the all-consuming task of creation. The daughters give up and go off on their own, and the wife joins a convent while Federico barely notices. And when the producer is interrupted by profound grief at the sudden death of his older son, he almost automatically returns to thinking about the film project when the funeral has ended. Garci honors many great directors at the beginning of this film, and the film continues to play out as an elaboration on this homage -- an illustration both of the dedication and the cost of filmmaking, no judgments given.