The plot follows a private detective, an ex communist and former CIA agent, who travels from Barcelona to Madrid to discover the identity of the assassin of the leader of the Spanish Communist party who was stabbed during a blackout while presiding over a meeting of the party's central committee. The film is a thriller with ironic political overtones.

Gustavo is morbidly dominated by his mother, Doña Leticia, who refuses to accept another woman in her son's life.

In 60s Extremadura, Paco el Bajo and his relatives work during day in a farmhouse, and silently suffer submission to their masters, who exploit them and treat them almost like animals. Meanwhile, Paco dreams that one day his children will be able to study.

Madrid, Spring 1913. During a visit to the casino, a beautiful 20 year-old woman catches the eye of a 50 year-old rich widower. But the gamble he is about to commit is far greater than he suspects.

Pepe, married to Amparo has fallen madly in love with Mónica, who happens to be the wife of his best friend Luis. Love affairs abound in this screwball comedy in which everyone is unhappy with their respective marriages and dream of the then imminent approval of divorce in Spain .

Luciano has been working in an important company for fifteen years without be rewarded for his efforts, his fidelity and submission. On the recommendation of a cousin, he acts as front man for the shameful business of his managers. They get it so far as to force him to marry the former mistress of one of the directors. Finally, because of a fire in the chalet where he lives and where they cook the dirty business of which he is not responsible for, Luciano ends up in jail for covering up and taking on some responsibilities that are not his, fulfilling his role of straw man until the end.