For many generations, the Arau family has been in power in this small seaport on the Gulf of Mexico, as land owners and only authority available. Don Fortunato Arau (Rafael Baledon) decides to defer that authority onto the humble Teobaldo López (Hector Suarez), but then all good citizens reject him because he is poor, and the low-lives do not like him because they still consider him a rich man. Five other gentlemen, who live in complete idleness, give vent to their twisted personalities by spying on their neighbors and destroying their reputations. One night, they find out that a man is having an affair with Florinda (Raquel Olmedo), the wife of Teobaldo. Florinda, to protect her reputation, starts a scandal about the voyeurs, and Teobaldo feels forced to send his friends to jail for twenty days. That introduces a radical change into the villagers' lives, those who were powerful loose their importance, and benevolent authority becomes authoritarian.