This novel explores the vibrant and innocent Madrid of the 1980s, the era of the "movida" and excesses, but also of enchantment and the loss of innocence. María José Sánchez works as an art appraiser at an auction house in Madrid. One day, she receives a phone call from an old friend and former lover, Jaime González, who tells her that their mutual friend, Marcos Molina Schulz, has committed suicide. This news not only brings back memories of her student years at the Art Academy, when she dreamed of a career as a painter, but also relives the intense love story the three of them shared when she was only twenty. With the bitter sense of what has been lost, María José reconstructs the details of that impossible and exaggerated love triangle, the exuberant joy of their sexual discoveries, the new, frank intimacy, and their distinct and exclusive devotion to painting. They experienced moments of intense and sincere bliss, which were eventually overshadowed by jealousy between the lovers and the unfair competition for the talent of the three aspiring artists.