Ángel is an aging professor, a lonely widower without purpose. His lovely, spirited neighbor, Terese, interrupts his suicide attempt when she comes to borrow wine. She invites him for dinner and he meets her lover, Alberto, and their young child. Terese captivates him, he develops a school-boy's crush, and when Alberto invites him to write something for their theatre troupe, called the Stilts, he jumps at the chance. When he's not writing, he spends every waking hour with the Stilts. They take him in. It's not enough for Ángel: he begs Terese to spend time alone with him, and they do become lovers. He's obsessed. It cannot last: what will he do when she breaks it off?
