Laforet's Nada is the story of Barcelona after the Spanish Civil War, told from the point of view of an orphan named Andrea. Andrea belonged to a moderately wealthy family before the war, but now as an orphan, she lives off government assistance. The government is also paying for her to attend university.
She travels to visit her grandmother and discovers that due to her age, she has stopped tending to the house and now lives in filth and squalor, without seeing that that is the case. But Andrea's grandmother doesn't live alone. She lives with two uncles, Roman the musician and Juan, who is married to a beautiful woman named Gloria who is probably the victim of his abuse. Also there is Andrea's authoritarian Aunt Angustias.
Then Andrea learns that Roman had some sort of intimate relationship with her friend Ena's mother. Roman finds himself involved in some nefarious illegal activities, and when Gloria, Juan's wife, reports him to the authorities, he commits suicide.
Ena, the wealthy friend from school, moves to Madrid, and Andrea decides to move as well. Ena's dad provides Andrea a career and continued education. The novel ends with Andrea leaving Barcelona.
