Juana knows how to deal with harsh reality. She has no other choice.
Growing up in the post-war Spain of the 1950s means a life of poverty, hunger, and gruelling work. Juana says goodbye to her family and to the village she has lived in all her life, and heads out alone to Barcelona to look for employment. For a time she finds a wage and a bed in the house of the devious and dishonest Madame Monterde, but when Juana discovers Monterde's shameful secret she is thrown out onto the street. Companionship comes in the unlikely form of Liberto, a disillusioned and home-bound watchmaker many years Juana's senior. The relationship brings some hope to Juana as she trudges on at the textiles factory, day after day, earning barely enough to eat. However, as a persecuted anarchist trapped into shady dealings with Madame Monterde, Liberto has his own problems...
When love is not enough, and nothing in her life is sure, Juana can rely on person and one person alone to provide the strength she needs to survive. Herself.