After his son dies, an elderly man comes back to Spain from the US and hopes to find out which of his granddaughters is true, and which one is bastard.

Dr. Molinos, a prestigious cardiologist, and his wife Isabel are going through a serious marital crisis. They live in Oviedo, in the oppressive Spain of the 50s, in the company of two maids: Escolástica and Jovita. His only daughter, Maribel, entered a convent of nuns. The unexpected love felt by Dr. Molinos for Julia, a young doctor who is much younger than him, makes him feel alive again.

In childhood and youth, the three were "the inseparables." Luisa married Ángel, then two years later, she left him to marry Ramiro. After ten years, Ángel reappears, back from South America, broke and ill. Luisa is overcome with sentimentality and, over Ramiro's objections, takes Ángel into their house. Ángel is bitter, he and Ramiro have shifted from best friends to enemies. Luisa wants to be in love with both. Ramiro hopes he can wait out Ángel's declining health, and Luisa wants to heal Ángel through force of will. What is Ángel's plan? Observing the roiling emotions are Luisa and Ramiro's precocious young children. Who's in danger here?