In the harsh post-war years' Catalan countryside, Dionís, a bird dealer, is attacked by a man in a hooded cape while leading his horse drawn wagon through a darkened forest. The assailant kills Dionís, leads the blindfolded horse to a cliff's edge then pulls the wagon with Dionís and his son, Culet, off the cliff. Andreu, an 11-year-old boy, discovers the wreckage of the fallen cart. Culet is still alive but manages only to say a word before dying: Pitorliua, the name that villagers have given to a ghost believed to live in a cave. The falangist mayor of the town suspects that Farriol, Andreu’s father, is involved in the deaths of Dionis and his son. Farriol, who was Dionís’s business partner dealing with birds, is an easy target for incrimination due to his suspicious background as a supportive of the Second Spanish Republic, which was repressed by the Francoist Spain. Years ago the mayor and Farriol were rivals vying for the love of Florència, Andreu’s mother, who ultimately chose Farriol as her husband cementing the major resentment against both of them. Fearing for his life, Farriol decides to flee and cross the border into France. Florència has to work in a factory in Vic so Andreu is sent to live with his paternal relatives in a house full of women and children. Àvia, Andreu’s old grandmother and Ció, a widower aunt who had a son a few years older than Andreu, work looking after the country home of the richest family of the region, the Manuben. There is also a younger aunt, Enriqueta, who is being pressured into marrying an older neighbour she does not love. The grim household is completed with Andreu’s orphan cousin Núria, a maimed but beautiful girl around his age, who lost a hand while playing with a grenade.
Soon Andreu begins to unearth his family’s dark secrets. His aunt, Enriqueta, is the talk of the village because she is carrying a secret affair with a civil guard. The precocious and lively Núria is engaging in sexual games with her alcoholic school teacher. Andreu befriends an older boy who he first spots bathing naked in a river in the forest. The boy is a tuberculosis patient in a nearby monastery, who imagines he has angels' wings. Andreu helps him setting a side some food for him. Farriol, as Andreu’s accidentally discovers, has not really left for France but is hiding in the farm house's attic.
Núria and Andreu become frequent companions roaming the mysterious forest together. She has a crush on him and tries a sex game, but he rejects her sexual advances. When the mayor orders to search the farmhouse Farriol is found and sent to prison. Farriol furtively tells Andreu to convince Florència to ask for help to the influential Mrs. Manubens. Florència pays her a visit. Because the rich lady is childless and has a weakness for children Florència takes Andreu with her. Mrs. Manubens reluctantly writes a letter to the mayor interceding for Farriol. However the mayor tries to take sexual advantage from Florència instead. Andreu slowly discovers that her mother has a secret of her own. In her youth she was a close friend of Pitorliua, the ghost of the legend, who was actually a delicate young man. Visiting his burial place, Andreu and Núria encounter Pauletta, Dionís’s half demented widow. Pauletta tells them that Pitorliua was the homosexual lover of the only brother of Mrs. Manubens and because of this he was castrated implying that Farriol had something to do with it. Exploring the cave where Pitorliua was castrated Andreu and Núria discover the names of the culprits on the wall: Dionís and Farriol. Andreu confronts his mother and Florència confesses that Dionís and Farriol were paid by Mrs. Manubens to scare Pitorliua off, but things went too far.
Farriol is condemned to death. Before he is executed Florència and Andreu visit him in jail to say goodbye. He tells his son not to forget his ideals. After Farriol’s funeral Pauletta spitefully reveals to Florència and Andreu that Farriol was the killer of her husband and son following orders of Mrs. Manubens. Dionís tried to blackmail her and Mrs. Manubens first got rid of Dionís and then of Farriol. The rich lady bought Farriol’s silence in exchange for providing an excellent education for Andreu. Andreu begins to reject his family full of lies and deceptions. Instead of running away with Núria as they originally planned, he ultimately accepts to be educated with expenses paid by Mrs. Manubens. Florència comes to see him at the boarding school, but Andreu has not forgiven his parents. When a classmate asks him who was the woman who came to see him he just answers it was a woman from his village.
