Belle Époque 1992

In February 1931, weeks after the failed Jaca uprising and the Cuatro Vientos uprising, Spain stands on the verge of the proclamation of the Second Republic. A deserting private with Republican leanings and a background as a former seminarist, Fernando is on the run from his post at the Cuatro Vientos base. After slipping away from two Guardia Civil officers, he reaches the outskirts of a village and befriends Manolo, an old man who observes life with a Dickensian quietness. Manolo owns a large house in the countryside where Fernando shelters for a while, finding a peculiar sanctuary away from the tumult of the times.

When Manolo’s four daughters arrive by train, Fernando is instantly drawn to them all. He meets Clara, a widow seeking solace after the loss of her husband, and she welcomes him into her circle. He also encounters Violeta, a closeted lesbian who seems attracted to the outsider only after she sees him dressed as a woman at a costume ball, a feeling she later downplays as insignificant. The third sister is Rocío, a social climber about to marry Juanito into the village’s wealthiest family, a union that would bring security and influence, especially given the family’s Carlist leanings; she briefly succumbs to Fernando’s charm before pulling away. Each encounter reveals a different facet of feminine sexuality, set against a community with its own traditions and tensions, where ambition, longing, and the pull of family loyalties collide.

Heartbreak follows heartbreak, and the father urges patience. The sisters are depicted as distinct embodiments of feminine sexuality: Clara’s warmth, Violeta’s hidden longing, Rocío’s pragmatic ambition, and the youngest, Luz, who embodies naïveté. While Fernando pursues the elder three, Luz grows increasingly angry and jealous. In the end, the realization comes that Luz is the best match of the four to marry.