A man is lying on the ground, at the entrance to the threshing floor. He’s been there for an hour, but no one has come by. The pain he felt has gone. A dog, Moino, is sniffing at his feet and lies down next to him. This is the Monteiro farmstead, which had belonged to Chucho Monteiro, the father. He had planted an oak grove with the help of his younger son, Daniel. On his death, his older son, also called Chucho, moved away with his wife to work in construction. Daniel looked after the farmstead and his mother, until she died two years later. At this point, the older son returned and suggested he also live at the farmstead and help out with the work, but all he did was live on the land, drinking and not helping, much to the chagrin of Daniel’s wife, Lola. Daniel’s son, also called Daniel, teaches the dog, Moino, to shake hands. He is very pleased with this trick and shows his mother and uncle. The two of them then go to meet Daniel as he comes back from the fields. Chucho is sitting at the boundary of the oak grove, sharpening a laurel stick. A woman, Carme, drives by on a tractor. He flirts with her and tries to persuade her to get off the tractor and talk for a while, but she refuses. Chucho is sitting by the fire in the kitchen, asking Lola for this and that. He tries to remember the little boy’s name, but mistakenly calls him Suso instead of Daniel. He invites Lola over and strokes her leg. They kiss. Lola thinks she did try to warn her husband.
The man on the ground has been dead since the day before. A pair of Civil Guard officers and a coroner arrive to remove the body. The dead man watches how his body is put in the hearse and Moino the dog goes to occupy the place on the ground where his body had been. Chucho is on the run, having committed a murder. He plans to make it to Coruña and from there to board a ship to Brazil or Cuba, to change his appearance so that he cannot be recognized. He is spotted as he leaves by a villager called Moncho, who is sitting up in a tree, collecting pine cones. Moncho, a simpleton, notices that Chucho is nervous and has obviously done something terrible. Moino the dog pursues Chucho for a time, is spotted by Moncho up in the tree and then backtracks, too small for the night. A newspaper reports on the crime, the murder of Daniel Monteiro at the hands of his brother, and on the disappearance of Chucho, Lola and Daniel’s son. Daniel’s son, also called Daniel, sees his mother slip on the ground, his uncle fussing behind him, his father isn’t there. An undertaker, Mr Ventura, issues a bill for a funeral. Chucho, on the run, falls and cuts his knee. He will make it to Coruña before dawn and then disappear.
The Civil Guard discovers the lifeless bodies of Lola and her young son, Daniel. They are determined to catch Chucho before he can flee the country. Moncho the simpleton gives evidence before the judge, a woman, about being up in the tree and seeing Chucho on the run and tries to hide his erection. A funeral is held for Daniel. People standing outside comment on the relationship between Chucho and Lola, who was quite a looker and pretty popular in her day. A man and a boy, accompanied by a dog, return from the fields on a cart laden high with corn; in the distance, a truck leaves with milk cans full of milk. Two officers of the Civil Guard come across a man limping along at two in the morning, with an injured knee, claiming to be searching for a lost pig. They let him go. We hear the voice of the author, the one who is responsible for creating the characters in the book. Chucho tries to seduce Lola, who is discontented with her life and misses the innocence of her childhood and youth. Chucho has made it to Coruña. He has a little over two hundred pesetas, but decides to hold on to these so he can get something to eat. He looks a state; a young girl walking her dog hurries past him.
The young Daniel and his father return from the fields; Daniel is telling his father how girls don’t have a willy, they only have a slit. They reach the farmstead, where Chucho is in the kitchen smoking a cigarette and Lola looks at her husband with an unsmiling expression. Daniel the son asks his father to make him some clogs and goes and collects the necessary tools from the shed. His uncle, Chucho, says he will do it for him. A newspaper column reflects on the Monteiro murders, in particular the fact a brother has killed his own brother, as in the Old Testament story, and a child was also killed. A young couple are returning from the beach. They start kissing while driving along. They are near Carballo when they run over a dog. The dog, Moino, realizes that his end has come. The boy driving the car is concerned that some liquid is leaking from the engine as a result of the impact and his father won’t let him drive the car again. A couple are at home with the woman’s father and their daughter. They are remarking on Daniel’s funeral and the number of people who were in attendance. The woman’s father thinks it’s just because people like a good gossip. The woman didn’t want her own daughter, who was in the same class as young Daniel, to attend; she doesn’t think a funeral is a place for children. Chucho is searching for a fishing boat or a merchant ship to take him away from Coruña, but he can’t get into the port’s installations. He takes a nap under a tree, where he is observed by passers-by and woken by a police officer, who offers him some coins and tells him he can’t sleep there. Chucho enters a bar, orders a coffee and falls asleep with his head on the counter.
