Demons in the Garden

In the small Spanish village, Gloria runs the family grocery store, el Jardín, with an iron will. Her authority shapes how Óscar and the rest of the family navigate poverty, wartime profits, and their own feuds. The store becomes a symbol of the family’s fragile power.

Óscar marries his brother’s lover, Ana, deepening a tense love triangle. Juan leaves for Madrid to seek a fortune by enlisting with the Nationalist Army. The brothers’ rivalry grows as war and desire pull them apart.

Ángela, left behind by Juan, becomes pregnant with his child and moves to the countryside. She gives birth to Juanito, whose existence will test the family’s loyalties. The arrival of the child marks a new, fragile line of inheritance.

Years pass and Juanito contracts rheumatic fever while searching for his father. Gloria arranges for Ángela to bring the boy to el Jardín, hoping to claim him as the rightful heir. The household begins treating him as family, blurring lines of legitimacy.

Juanito grows close to Ana during his stay, while longing for his mother. The family’s warmth masks shifting loyalties and secrets. Eventually Ángela returns to live with the family, deepening the ties that bind them.

Juanito hears that his father will appear with Franco’s retinue and travels to see him. He discovers that his father is only a waiter in the service of Franco’s personal bodyguard. The illusion of a glamorous legacy dissolves into disappointment.

As the years advance, Juanito becomes increasingly disenchanted with the man who abandoned him. He learns that his father visits Ana, Óscar’s wife, highlighting the family’s tangled loyalties. The memory of a hero father erodes into cynicism.

Because Juan is in need of money, Ana steals a thousand pesetas from the family safe—the profits from wartime black-market activity the family survived on. Gloria discovers the theft but mistakenly blames Ángela, leading to Ángela’s arrest. The act exposes the fragility of the family’s moral code.

Gloria eventually uncovers the truth and urges Juan to return to marry Ángela so the family can have a legitimate heir. Her plan hinges on displacing Ana and stabilizing the clan’s status. The manipulation reveals how power and inheritance drive their choices.

Ángela refuses to marry Juan, who remains emotionally involved with Ana. The refusal upends Gloria’s scheme and intensifies the feud between Óscar and Juan. The family’s version of justice remains unsettled and unresolved.

Óscar and Juan’s rivalry continues, boiling over as they fight for Ana and then Ángela. The two brothers embody the petty bourgeois world’s hypocrisy and competitiveness. Their battles overshadow any remaining family unity.

The following day is Juanito’s saint’s day, celebrated by the whole family. Juan tries to seduce Ángela and then Ana in the hay barn, revealing his predatory impulses. In despair over his behavior, Ana shoots him in the shoulder with a handgun.

The family gathers for a portrait in front of El Jardín, and they cover the bloodstain with a jacket as the camera freezes on the scene. Gloria watches, the hypocrisy of their petty bourgeois world laid bare. The film ends without conclusions, leaving the family’s secrets intact.