Paco and Régula live on a rural estate owned by an absent marchioness with their three children. Nieves works as a maid in the big house, Quirce is doing his military service, and Charito is severely handicapped. The parents accept the repeated humiliations of their position as dependents at the whim of the owners and the estate manager, but Nieves and Quirce aim for a better life. The family is joined by Régula's mentally retarded brother Azarías, sacked from another estate, who loves birds.