The story centers around Diego Montes (played by Nacho Martínez), a former bullfighter who had to retire due to injury. Now teaching bullfighting, Diego has a dark obsession with death and derives pleasure from watching slasher films, particularly at the moment of death.

He meets María Cardenal (Assumpta Serna), a beautiful and mysterious woman who shares his erotic fascination with death. María is a lawyer with a deadly secret: she seduces and murders men at the point of orgasm using a hairpin to the back of the neck — a metaphor for the "estocada", the final blow in a bullfight.

Meanwhile, Ángel (Antonio Banderas), a timid and sexually repressed young man who is Diego’s student, becomes entangled in the dark relationship between Diego and María. Suffering from seizures and hallucinations, Ángel falsely confesses to crimes he didn’t commit — including murders actually done by María.