The film, which stars Penelope Cruz and Carmen Maura is a meeting of "Mildred Pierce" (Michael Curtiz) and "Arsenic and Old Lace" (Frank Capra), combined with the surrealistic naturalism of Amodovar's fourth film, "¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!!" ("What Have I Done to Deserve This?") The backdrop is Madrid and its lively working-class neighbourhoods, where the immigrants from the various Spanish provinces share dreams, lives and fortune with a multitude of ethnic groups, and other races. At the heart of this social framework, three generations of women who survive wind, fire and even death, thanks to audacity, goodness and a limitless vitality.