Middle-aged romance author Leo writes under a pseudonym, since she despises her own work. At home, her husband, who works overseas, is distant both physically and emotionally. As she reevaluates her life and writing, Leo is led to an unexpected relationship with Ángel, a sensitive newspaper editor.

Penelope, a mother of three kids, gets tired by the infidelities of her husband and leaves him. She goes to live at her grandma's house, while he has to take care of the children. His interest is awakened when he finds love letters held by his wife, indicating a past love affair. She, on the other hand, tries to find her past lover, a Spanish painter, with whom she had a short love affair, only to discover that he is terminally ill.

Andres is a flamenco singer who has just gotten out of prison after being falsely convicted of the murder of Romero, a member of his band. As Andres tries to re-acclimate himself to freedom, he discovers things have not been going his way while he was up the river; his wife Lucia is having an affair with another man, while his bullying father Isidoro is obsessed with getting revenge against Don Manuel, who rules a local crime syndicate known as the Junco Family.

The film presents thirteen rhythms of flamenco, each with song, guitar, and dance: the up-tempo bularías, a brooding farruca, an anguished martinete, and a satiric fandango de huelva. There are tangos, a taranta, alegrías, siguiriyas, soleás, a guajira of patrician women, a petenera about a sentence to death, villancicos, and a final rumba.