Amelia, a renowned landscape painter, retires to her seaside house to recover from her separation after thirteen years of marriage to Ezequiel, a literary critic. Various visits throughout the summer interrupt her solitude, among them those of her ex-husband. Eventually we learn that the reason for the break-up was the loss of sexual interest on the part of Ezequiel and his search for new experiences as a way of re-discovering intimacy. Through a deep psychological investigation, the reader is able to judge what motivates Amelia and Ezequiel, who, by staying together, crossed the frontier of modesty and were unable to return.