Brenan arrives at Yegen on foot, interrupting the funeral held for the daughter of the local cacique.

He collapses from dysentery and soon learns that the local cacique, Don Fernando, is leaving for Granada with his wife.

Brenan rents Fernando's house for a year and soon enlists the services of María as housekeeper and cook and becomes friends with a local man named Paco.

His friends Dora Carrington, Lytton Strachey (who is ill), and Ralph Partridge visit for a couple of days.

Brenan, who is quickly learning Spanish and who is called “Don Geraldo” by the locals, decides to make Juliana jealous by accompanying Ángeles, the daughter of María, to church.

As the women continue to fight, Brenan becomes increasingly frustrated, and finally kicks María out of his home (at gunpoint).

When Ralph Partridge visits again, this time with his new fiancée, Brenan and Juliana join him on a day trip to the beach.

She reproves Brenan for not returning to Yegen earlier, but in the end allows him to take their child to be educated and looked after.

The film was inspired by Gerald Brenan's biography The Interior Castle by Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, who also collaborated in the screenplay.