Agustín Valverde is an old widower peasant who has always lived in the village of Calacervia, near Zaragoza. One day, he decides on a whim to go settle down in Madrid. When he arrives in the capital he is caught in the vortex of the Gran Vía's busy traffic. With great difficulty he manages to reach the apartment of Agustin hijo, his son, who has become a renowned doctor. His 40-year-old son lives a luxurious life there with his wife Luciana and their daughter Sara. But things are far from ideal: the three are annoyed by his uninvited presence, and he is troubled by the lack of moral values that seems to govern his relatives: frivolity, duplicity, and conceit reign supreme among them.