 It is a semi-autobiographical work divided into two symmetrical parts (I-III and V–VII) separated by a long philosophical conversation between the protagonist and his uncle, doctor Iturrioz (IV).The first part of the novel deals with the life of the medicine student Andrés Hurtado.Through his family, teachers, classmates and diverse friends, Baroja draws a merciless painting of the bourgeois and proletarian 19th century inhabitants of Madrid.