1939. Civil war is raging in Spain. Franco’s army is crushing the Republicans, who are trying to flee the country in small groups. Among them is the guardian of 13-year-old Carlos, who has brought his ward to an orphanage. Carlos’s father has died, but the boy does not yet know this. While waiting for his father to arrive, Carlos grows fond of the orphanage’s directors, Dr. Casares and the one-legged Carmen. The latter is being actively courted by her former student, the handsome young Jacinto, who is obsessed with finding gold that is supposedly hidden in a safe in the orphanage’s dining hall. But Carlos fears not so much Jacinto and his cronies as the ghost of a boy with a shattered skull, who whispers terrifying prophecies from the corners.