The main character, Manolo Olivar, is the son of Juan Olivar, a famous bullfighter whose statue adorns the town square. Because Manolo looks like his father—dark, thin, with a long nose (considered a mark of bravery) and sad, brooding eyes—everyone expects Manolo to behave just like his father. But Manolo refuses to make himself into the bullfighting hero that the townspeople of Arcangel envision.

Manolo struggles to follow his personal ambitions and desires but faces pressure from a community deeply entrenched in the rituals surrounding bullfighting. For example, six men, dedicated bullfighting fans called aficionados, share one determination: to prepare Manolo for his destiny as a bullfighter. One of them, the seventy-yearold Count de la Casa, lives in France but comes to Spain once a year to see his olive groves and observe the testing of the young bulls and...