The novel is set in a community of country houses scattered about the Maestrat in the 1940s and 50s. It it a wooded area frequented by resistance fighters of the Maquis, who, aided by the emotional and material complicity of Teresa, and the reticence of her mother, who's husband was a victim of the civil war. Her young son is the narrator of this story, which deals with a situation filled with secrets and violence. One of the Maquis fighters, who is having an affair with Teresa, is also a Civil Guard informer. This causes misunderstandings and skirmishes. The novel follows the development of the child protagonist and his family, divided and shaken by the struggles between the guerillas and the Civil Guard, in a mountain village in Valencia.