The production tells the total decline of a Catalan aristocratic family during the profound social and political changes in the city, between the end of Primo de Rivera's dictatorship and the II Republic. Faced with economic ruin and death of the patriarch, Frederic, the eldest son, tries to manage to maintain their status, but at the end he is condemned to live by charity.

Instead, Guillem, the youngest, struggles to return to the top by blackmailing a wealthy aristocrat, who finally commits suicide. Having lost their source of income, Guillem does not hesitate to seduce the wealthy widow of the victim, a beautiful woman who becomes his wife after a long and difficult period of seduction.

Maria Lluïsa, daughter and niece of Guillem is rebelled against the idea of ​​a marriage of convenience imposed by her grandmother. She is commited to work and to become independent, but she realizes that the only way to escape the family pressure is by accepting the marriage proposal from a wealthy Basque man.