The film is a coming of age story of a sixteen-year-old boy finding love and sex in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War.

[1] In the spring of 1940 in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil war, two sons of a fallen soldier, Manolo, a sixteen-year-old boy, and his eight-year-old little brother Jesús are suffering from symptoms of tuberculosis.

Forced to assist to classes against his will with the much younger children in the residence, Manolo clashes violently with the conservative authoritarianism of Doña Tránsito, the teacher.

The two teenage leads Jorge Sanz and Maribel Verdú were subsequently cast together in many Spanish films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most notably in Amantes, directed by Vicente Aranda.

El Año de las Luces, is based on an episode of the real life of Manule Huete the director's father in law.