Having lost his fortune abroad, Don Rodrigo (Fernando Fernán Gómez) returns to his native Spanish village to determine which of his granddaughters is his late son's child, and which is the result of an affair. His daughter-in-law, Lucrecia (Cayetana Guillén Cuervo), refuses to help him. Determined to uncover the truth despite Lucrecia's attempts to have him shut away in a monastery, Don Rodrigo grows close to Don Pio (Rafael Alonso), his granddaughters' elderly teacher.