In the spring of 1940, after the Spanish Civil War, two sons of a fallen soldier, Manolo, Jorge Sanz a sixteen-year-old boy, and his eight-year-old little brother Jesús, Jesús Fernández, are suffering from tuberculosis and are sent to a rural sanatorium in Sierra de Gata near the border with Portugal. Their older brother Pepe, Santiago Ramos, arrives with them and the family’s hope rests on the care they’ll receive under Irene, Verónica Forqué the head nurse who oversees the institution.
At the sanatorium, Manolo stands out as the only adolescent among a sea of children. He begins a tense, tentative journey into adolescence and attraction, drawn to Vicenta, Violeta Cela the handsome woman in charge of the children’s well-being. Each night, he secretly watches as she undresses, and a new longing takes shape inside him. Yet Vicenta’s warmth does not extend to him in the way he yearns, nor does Paquita, a young woman who also works there, Diana Peñalver return his flirtations. The atmosphere at the sanatorium is complicated by Irene’s own unspoken desire for the boy, a tension that adds a dangerous electricity to the corridors and classrooms.
Manolo’s struggle with desire collides with the rigid, conservative atmosphere personified by Doña Tránsito, Chus Lampreave the strict teacher who enforces rules with a firm hand. The clash between youthful curiosity and authoritarian control pushes Manolo toward independence, and Emilio, Manuel Alexandre the elderly janitor and free-thinker, becomes a quiet mentor. Emilio introduces him to literature—Montaigne, Balzac, and Flaubert—as a way to process the world, offering a glimpse of a broader intellectual life beyond the sanatorium’s walls.
Time passes, and Vicenta’s departure from the sanatorium unsettles Manolo. He then becomes captivated by María Jesús, Maribel Verdú a pretty village girl who is only a year younger than him. Encouraged by Emilio, the two teenagers begin a tender, almost naive romance. Their moments together fill the days with a sense of possibility, a private sanctuary amid the regimented routines of sanatorium life. Their growing closeness is marked by stolen glances and a quiet, shared happiness that feels newly precious.
But Irene soon discovers the kiss shared between Manolo and María Jesús in the infirmary and reacts with swift, decisive action. María Jesús is dismissed from the care of the sanatorium and sent to stay with her uncle, the local priest, ending the burgeoning romance. A twist of fate reveals that María Jesús is, in fact, the priest’s illegitimate daughter, a revelation that complicates loyalties and adds a layer of forbidden intrigue to their separation.
As the seasons turn, Pepe, an Army officer, returns to take Manolo away from the sanatorium with the rest of the family. The journey home marks a abrupt and permanent end to the young lovers’ brief, fragile romance, leaving Manolo to carry the memories of what might have been. The story lingers on the juxtaposition of youth and authority, of desire and restraint, and the quiet, often painful process of growing up in a world scarred by war and loss.
Throughout, the film paints a meticulous portrait of a place where children are cared for, yet under the watchful eyes of adults whose own desires and fears shape every encounter. It captures the tension between intellectual awakening and the social strictures of the time, and it follows Manolo’s inner life as he navigates first loves, moral boundaries, and the uncertain future that awaits him beyond the sanatorium’s gates.
