The film starts in 1936. In a small and remote inland town of Andalusia (southern Spain), Higinio is a tailor and a town councilor who has recently got married to Rosa. After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Higinio hides in his own house awaiting the right moment to escape with his wife. But he is caught in his attempt by his neighbor, Gonzalo, who blames Higinio for his brother's death and is looking for revenge. Captured by Franco's soldiers, Higinio is driven by tru... (Full plot summary below)
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The film starts in 1936. In a small and remote inland town of Andalusia (southern Spain), Higinio is a tailor and a town councilor who has recently got married to Rosa. After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Higinio hides in his own house awaiting the right moment to escape with his wife. But he is caught in his attempt by his neighbor, Gonzalo, who blames Higinio for his brother's death and is looking for revenge. Captured by Franco's soldiers, Higinio is driven by truck, along with other opposition prisoners, to a nearby prison. But an unwitting distraction from one of the prisoners gives him a chance to escape. He runs across the town to his house where he is to remain hidden in a secret hole. In the meantime, Gonzalo pays Higinio's wife occasional visits in the belief that she knows his whereabouts. When the civil war comes to an end in 1939, Higinio learns from Rosa that there is a reward for capturing him as well as other insurgents. After one of her father-in-law's visit, Rosa and Higinio's father succeed in moving Higinio into the father's house. But, to their surprise, Higinio's father dies of natural causes and Rosa inherits and moves into her father-in-law's house with Higinio as the secret occupant. Rosa takes charge of her late father-in-law's sewing shop. But, with time, troubles increase: Rosa is raped by Rodrigo, a young Civil Guard and one of her regular customers. Higinio kills him and buries the body in Higinio's hiding place. A few months later Rosa tells Higinio that she's pregnant. Despite Higinio's opposition, and unsure of the paternity of the child, Rosa abandons Higinio for a few months to visit her sister in order to hide her pregnancy to the rest of the town. Alone in the house, Higinio surprises the local postman with his male lover after they break into his theoretically empty house which they intend to use as their love nest. The two of them befriend Higinio, and they promise to keep their mutual secrets. When, in 1945, World War II ends, Higinio's hopes for Allied forces defeating Franco's regime and freeing the country gradually vanish. He continues his seclusion for years to come, living with daily fear and paranoia. Jaime, Rosa's and (presumably) Higinio's son, is taught to say that he is Rosa's nephew and that his parents died when he was a baby. With the house turned into a big cell, Higinio and Rosa's relationship deteriorates due to decades of isolation, guilt and shame. In 1963, Jaime, having grown up up as an idealistic young man and, tired of a life of fear and terror, welcomes a friend home. The friend is wanted by Franco's police forces and Jaime introduces him to his father, who learns that there are many others like him in hiding. At the same time, Jaime confronts his parents about the life he has had and a determined Gonzalo keeps visiting Rosa's sewing shop, still tormented by his brother death, and obsessed with the idea of seeking revenge and kill Higinio at any cost. But then, in 1969, Higinio's life changes after he hears a special news on the radio.
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