After dumping a bucket of water on a beautiful young woman from the window of a train car, wealthy Frenchman Mathieu, regales his fellow passengers with the story of the dysfunctional relationship between himself and the young woman in question, a fiery 19-year-old flamenco dancer named Conchita. What follows is a tale of cruelty, depravity and lies — the very building blocks of love.

Gorgeous IRA operative Maria flees the British authorities and finds herself in Mexico, where she meets a stunning woman also named Maria, a singer in a traveling circus. The new friends start a vaudeville act — one that grows exponentially more popular after they incorporate striptease into their routine. When the singer Maria falls for a charismatic Mexican rebel, the girls leave the circus behind and recreate themselves as wild-eyed revolutionaries.

Viridinia is preparing to start her life as a nun when she is sent, somewhat unwillingly, to visit to her aging uncle, Don Jaime. He supports her; but the two have met only once. Jaime thinks Viridinia resembles his dead wife. Virdinia has secretly despised this man all her life and finds her worst fears proven when Jaime grows determined to seduce his pure niece. Viridinia becomes undone as her uncle upends the plans she had made to join the convent.