In 1827, Berthet, the son of a craftsman and a young seminarian, was tried and sentenced to death for murdering his former mistress, the wife of a noble who had hired him as tutor to his children.

Félix rebolledo is a pimp who owns a cabaret, two bingo halls and three dating houses. He now intends to open a party hall, and for this he has - as he always has - the support of the Bishop, whom he has bribed with frequent donations. Counting on the support of the Church, it will be much easier for him to have the approval of the City Council, although, on the other hand, he also has bribed, among others, the mayor and the president of the Council of the Deputation.

On March 22, four days after returning to his home in Andalusia, Luis de Vargas writes the first of his letters to his uncle and favorite professor at the seminary. He reports that his father intends to fatten him up during his vacation, to have him ready to return in the fall to finish his training for the priesthood. He mentions in passing that his father is courting a twenty-year-old, attractive widow, Pepita Jiménez; his father is fifty-five years old. Pepita had been married for only a short time to an eighty-year-old moneylender named Gumersindo. Luis is not eager to see his father marry again, but he promises his uncle not to judge Pepita before he knows her.

Raulhac, Cantal, France, September 1, 1905. In the forest surrounding his hometown, the young seminarian Bruno Reidal murders a child and then surrenders himself to the authorities.

Returning to his home town, seminarist Miguel is forced to trade the robes for a charro costume in order to solve several problems that appear in his way, including the female kind.

Two former seminarians meet by chance in adulthood: one has become a dealer, the other a terrorist.