[2][3] In 1937, Republican Militia force a circus troupe to fight on their side in the Spanish Civil War.

The Funny Clown (Santiago Segura) slaughters dozens of Nationalist troops, armed only with a machete, before being shot and disarmed.

While his fellow troupe members are executed, the Funny Clown is sentenced to work as a slave laborer, at the monument of the Valle de los Caídos.

Javier begins to fall in love with Sergio's girlfriend, the trapeze artist Natalia (Carolina Bang).

Natalia encourages Javier to develop feelings for her, as she was impressed by his refusal to laugh at an offensive joke told by Sergio at dinner previously.

After having a dream in which Sergio foils his repeated attempts to rescue Natalia from various situations, Javier escapes from the hospital and returns to the circus.

Now insane, Javier beats Sergio mercilessly in the face with a trumpet, leaving him mauled and near death.

As Javier escapes through the sewers, the circus troupe takes Sergio to the closest doctor – a veterinarian – for medical care.

He uses the occasion of ETA's successful attempt on Admiral Carrero Blanco (Franco's heir apparent) to kidnap Natalia.

He takes her to the Valle de los Caídos, hewn from rock, where the circus has kept its animals since going out of business.

Sergio puts on his clown make up and chases Javier and Natalia through the Monumental Cross at the Valle de los Caídos (a visual homage to the climactic Mount Rushmore scene in the Hitchcock classic North by Northwest[4][5]).

Natalia admits her love for Javier and they attempt to escape by wrapping lengths of drapery around their waists and lowering themselves to the ground.

It is a love letter to a country, a time and a frowning clown singing mournfully about a weeping trumpet.