Vaca

In 1875, Carmelo Mendiluze's unit fights in the Biscay trenches when his neighbor Manuel Iriguíbel joins the exhausted battalion. Manuel panics under fire and, blood from a mortally wounded comrade stains his neck as he trembles on the ground. He escapes the battle in a moment of terror, slipping away from the front carried in a cart of corpses while a lone cow watches.

After the battle, Manuel crawls free from the cart carrying the dead, naked and unseen by most. The ruthless rumor of cowardice sticks to him, shaping future tensions between the Mendiluze and Iriguíbel families. The future war becomes a distant backdrop to his stigma.

In 1905, thirty years later, Mendiluze and Iriguíbel families remain bitter rivals in rural Guipúzcoa. Ilegorri engineers a wager between Ignacio Iriguíbel and Juan Mendiluze to prove who is the greater aizcolari. The bet rekindles old resentments and moves the two men into direct competition.

Ignacio wins the log-cutting competition, launching his career as a premier aizcolari. Catalina notices his rising prominence and a wary, mutual attraction begins to complicate the family feud. The episode deepens the rift between the two families.

Paulina Mendiluze warns her daughter that Ignacio's attraction to Catalina could ruin the Mendiluze family. The elder matriarch fears the widening rift will spill over into blood and tragedy. The warning sets the tone for later events.

Spring 1915 brings Ignacio back from national contests a respected and famous figure. He neglects his wife Madalen as he rekindles with Catalina, and together they have a ten-year-old son. The family dynamic shifts as the old feud looms over them.

After the death of a key maternal figure, Juan's bitterness toward Catalina grows, and the fragile truce between the households begins to crack. Ignacio's affair continues to cast a shadow over their relations. The uneasy balance keeps the families on edge.

Around 1925, Peru (Ignacio and Catalina's ten-year-old son) and Cristina form a close friendship while Manuel oversees their exploration in the mountain woods. Their bond flourishes as the boys run free, sheltered by the elder grandfather. Eventually their parents elope to America and take Peru with them.

In the summer of 1936, Peru returns to Guipúzcoa as a photojournalist reporting on the Spanish Civil War. Juan Mendiluze dons a Carlist red beret and officially joins the Nationalists, aligning with the conflict that tears the region apart. The once-familiar farm becomes a sheltering ground for the protagonists.

Cristina reappears along with Lucas, Iligorri's son, and they navigate the dangerous landscape as the war intensifies. Lucas is killed protecting the group, while Peru is captured by Nationalist forces. The fate of the survivors hangs in the balance as violence sweeps the valley.

Juan intervenes to spare Peru from execution, recognizing him as his nephew. Peru and Cristina are forced to flee toward the French frontier, leaving behind a village haunted by war. Their escape marks a new, uncertain chapter for the intertwined families.

Peru and Cristina escape into exile along the border with France, while the Civil War rages around them. The two half-siblings drift toward an uncertain future as the family feud lingers in memory. The film closes on the pair crossing into exile, their bond unbroken by time.