Rodolfo and Petrita live in separate quarters in dilapidated Madrid, and each is looking for a little apartment ("pisito" in Spanish dialect), but their low salaries keep them in their old hovels. Rodolfo's co-workers start encouraging him to marry the frail old Doña Martina, the main tenant in his apartment building; according to Spanish rent-control law, he could inherit the lease from his spouse. Thus begin his misgivings and Petrita's.