Two children, Pancho and Birutas, who live peacefully in the same village, are platonically in love with Xonxa. One of them, El Birutas, has to emigrate in search of a better future, leaving Xonxa and Pancho in the village.

A work of Valle-Inclán, the story takes place in Galicia in the early twentieth century. To escape poverty, the wife of a sacristan uses a hydrocephalic child as a sideshow attraction. This causes a confrontation with her sister-in-law.