Winter, 1944. Lucía at 21 returns to her small village in the mountains. She again meets Manuel, a young iron-smith who helps "those in the mountain", the "maquis", the anti-Franco resistance. Lucía is attracted to Manual, because of his smile and the bravery of those men who continue fighting for their ideas, even at the cost of their own lives. When Manuel is pursued (by Franco's Civil Guard) he flees to the mountain and Lucía discovers the reality of political repression, the silence, the horror and fear.