In 1958, Felipe, Miguel Ángel Muñoz, a ten-year-old boy, is sent by his mother to spend the summer with his maternal relatives in Sanlúcar de Barrameda to help him recover his frail health. The grandparents are wealthy, and their vast residence becomes the center of family life and a steady stream of visitors. The house is also watched over by Abuela María Galiana, a conservative matriarch who keeps order, while Bisabuela Tomás Zori — the senile great-grandmother — often cries out in distress, attended to by Adoración Ana Torrent, a strict nurse who endures the old woman's endlessly repeated recollection of the four bandoleros who killed each other for her love.
Pampered on arrival by the women in the house, Felipe is ordered to stay in bed by the family doctor. He is given the bedroom of his absent Uncle Ramón Joaquín Kremel and spends his days reading Little Women. He quickly forms a close friendship with Mari María Barranco, the talkative and meddlesome maid who keeps four lovers on a string but refuses to let go of her virginity. An expert on men, Mari flirts with him even when she suspects he might be gay. In secret, she shows Felipe items she found in Uncle Ramón's bedroom: a suggestive photograph of Ramón in swimming wear revealing his anatomy and a postcard from 1936 signed by Federico that depicts a dog looking at a dove with what Mari describes as a lovesick face. The message and its image imply a homoerotic relationship between Ramón and Federico. Felipe points out that the picture was taken on the terrace of the bedroom, and both he and Mari are fascinated by Ramón's revealing attire.
Felipe also befriends Uncle Ricardo Francisco Rabal, the eccentric brother of the boy's grandfather, who trains pigeons and dreams of treasure at sea with his boat. Felipe tells him of Mari's belief that lame doves are queers, then asks Ricardo if he might be queer. Although Ricardo denies it, he does not do so when the boy asks about Ramón, evasively replying that he no longer remembers.
Peace in the house is frequently disturbed by many visitors like Reglita [Amparo Baró], a mature spinster, and there is general commotion with the arrival of Felipe's cosmopolitan Aunt Victoria [Carmen Maura], a singer who sails into town with Luigi, her muscle-bound Italian "secretary" in tow. A liberal free thinker who has traveled Europe extensively, Victoria scandalizes Abuela with her erotic and anti-Franco poetry that makes the neighbors blush but fascinates Reglita. With her free way of living and her expertise on men, Victoria draws Mari's attention, who asks her about her lovers, and Victoria shows her a valuable ring that one of them gave her.
The uncertainty of Felipe's blossoming sexuality is subjected to further confusion with the surprising arrival of the charismatic communist Uncle Ramón, who takes back possession of his bedroom. Both Felipe and Mari are fascinated by him. Felipe asks Ramón which tastes better, a man, a lady, or a young gal, to which the worldly Uncle Ramón responds, "Ladies and young gals taste great, and I once met a man who tasted like Manchego cheese." > "Ladies and young gals taste great, and I once met a man who tasted like Manchego cheese." The boy immediately identifies this man as Federico and compliments his uncle on having gorgeous eyes.
There is new commotion in the house with the elopement of Luigi with one of Mari's lovers, the theft of Victoria's ring, and the death of Felipe's senile great-grandmother. Mari tells Felipe that he can spy from his bedroom and see Uncle Ramón naked at night, but instead she shows up dancing naked by his window with Victoria's ring in her hand. The next day Felipe accuses Mari of stealing the ring, and when Felipe reveals where she has hidden it, Abuelo fires her. Felipe goes to Mari's room before her departure to reconcile. To Felipe's sadness, Ramón has left as suddenly as he arrived. Victoria, Felipe, and Uncle Ricardo set out to sea on a treasure-seeking adventure.
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