The story takes place in Madrid and follows Paco, a young waiter apprentice, and his desire to become a matador.
The main source of residency in the cheap hotel is a group of second-rate bullfighters, who, for the most part, were all great at some point, but some obstacle or circumstance has ended their careers with no likely hope in sight.
Finally, the third matador’s career has ended because his once original routine has grown old and people have lost interest.
One of the picadors drinks himself into a stupor every night, while the other is a large man who rarely gets work with a matador for very long due to his argumentative nature.
The other characters who come to the attention of the reader later in the evening have stories as well, especially Paco, the waiter apprentice from Extramadura.