The past is a riddle to Juan (Inaki Aierra), the playwright. He is tormented by it - by memories of the elderly father who went off, and the young mother who committed suicide, and he has written a play, Sweet Hours, which contains the key scenes of his early life. The play is in rehearsal and he attends the sessions, watchful and absorbed. He is searching for something. Juan slips in and out of the actor reconstructions and his own memories. Finally, light dawns on Juan, he dredges up the repressed material, and his Oedipus Complex is resolved. And Juan falls in love with Berta (Assumpta Serna), the stunning young actress who is rehearsing the role of the mother.