The plot follows a middle-aged writer as he is visited by his niece and her friend in hopes to cover a highly fabricated memoir he is writing, and he is caught up in their game of seduction as his lies are unraveled.

[1] Luis Forest, an aging Falangist writer, has retired to Sitges to devote himself to reviewing his past, ruminating over his failed marriage and writing his memoirs.

Suffering from a sense of guilt due to his political past, aligned with the Francoist regime, he lives in virtual isolation in a large house with only his dog and Tesla, the housekeeper, for company.

Mariana's mother, Mari, calls Luis to warn him that her daughter is with Elmyr, whom she describes as a drug addict with suicidal tendencies.

As she offers to type the manuscript, Mariana realizes that her uncle has fabricated and altered several facts and events in his memoir.

Mariana is initially very upset by her friend's departure, but calms down knowing that Elmyr is safe in Ibiza.

Overwhelmed with guilt for his act of incest, Luis retires to his room and tries to commit suicide by shooting himself, but only manages to wound his hand.

[2] Instead, Aranda turned to the new novel by Catalan author Juan Marsé, a controversial winner of the 1979 Premio Planeta ( the Spanish Booker Prize).

Aranda was able to increase the budget with money from Venezuelan producers and added exterior locations to the script, thereby allowing him to film the action in a calculated chiaroscuro that alternates light and shadow as an illustration of the truth and lies of the protagonist.