Mickey, a New Yorker, visits his aunt and uncle in Villarcayo, Spain, when the Spanish Civil War erupts. After the city of Toledo falls, his cousin, Lito, returns home with a wounded arm and is deemed a hero by the community. Mickey sees Lito as a cruel murderer and refuses to speak with him. He constantly worries about Madrid falling next. The next day, Mickey attends an annual feast at Sobrepena with his family, where Lito became bedridden with a fever for over a week.   When Mickey approaches the sick Lito in his bedroom, Lito tells Mickey he is dying. Mickey says that the person he was working with wanted that to happen. Lito calls Mickey a "brave Communist" but admits that he would still fight whoever would try to hurt him. Mickey criticizes Lito’s involvement in the war, but Lito says that Mickey will “die just being Spanish” while he fights for what he believes in. When Lito boasts that he took one of their women, Mickey grabs a nearby medical razor and presses it against Lito’s wrist, threatening to kill Lito to avenge the girl, then leaves. As Mickey leaves and heads downstairs, Lito screams for him to come back and kill him. One week later, Mickey hears that Lito is worsening and dying. The mayor muses to Lito’s father that Lito is waiting for the Nationalist army to get into Madrid before he passes, but the father responds that Lito now talks very little about the war.   Two weeks later, the Nationalist army bombs Madrid. Lito’s father asks Mickey to visit Lito. When Mickey reaches Lito's home, Lito earnestly tells him that the girl he took actually let him do so, that he found her alone on a road and rescued her. Lito explains that they had both put their guns down and then had sex. Lito said he lied to his comrades and showed her the way back home successfully. Lito tells Mickey that he’s a Spaniard too, kisses his cheek, and then passes away in his bed.