An old Andalusian communist back home after a long exile in France, Antonio, provides shelter for Paul, who turned to him for help after getting himself sacked by the newspaper he was working for. According to Antonio, Paul is someone who believes everything can be set right – what goes on in the mind and in real life with other people. Paul embarks on a journey of the mind, but life catches up with him. Or rather, women catch up with him: Anne, his present partner, and Marie, an earlier one, are on his trail. Farce or tragedy? Neither, says Paul: there’s no need for anyone to get killed in this story. But it does end with a death. When Antonio disappears, he takes with him a whole historical era, that of social utopias. Paul has lost his shadow, but not the way Antonio thought: Antonio himself was Paul’s shadow.