In the high modernist Barcelona of 1913, highly strung Freud aficionado Alma is the daughter of Dr. Mira, a renowned neurosurgeon. The pregnant Alma confronts her brother-in-law, narrow-minded doctor Salvador, who is secretly in love with her, with the news that her husband, psychiatrist Leon, has walked out on her for no apparent reason. Meanwhile Salvador's wife and Alma's sister, Olivia, confesses to Alma that she is sexually frustrated in her relationship with him. After some cajoling, Salvador agrees to help Alma find Leon. They decide the best way to do so is to find the subjects of four case histories he has left in a book about female sexuality. The first of these is a masochistic porn actress, the second a woman who killed her husband, and the third turns out to be Olivia herself.