The outbreak of the Civil War, which poses a significant risk to Higinio's life, occurs after the couple has been married for only a few months. Rosa and Higinio. They come to the conclusion, with the assistance of his wife, that the best place for them to conceal themselves temporarily is in a hole that has been dug into their own home. They are doomed to a sentence of incarceration that will exceed thirty years because of the combined effects of their love for one another and their anxiety at the possibility of retribution.