During a battle in Saragossa, a French officer finds a large book with strange drawings that capture his attention. While he is looking at it, an enemy officer tries to arrest him but ends up translating the book for him. The second officer recognize its author as his own grandfather. The book and the movie tell about the life of Alfonso Van Worden, who was a captain in the Walloon Guard. On behalf of the king, he had to cross the Sierra Morena mountains. The narrative structure recalls a set of chinese boxes, in which reality and dreams overlap and get mixed.