Nada structures its narrative around Andrea’s gradual coming of age and coming into her own in the dark post-war environment. Andrea is an orphan with a complicated history revealed in foggy, vaguely recalled fragments. She comes from a convent in provincial Spain to pursue her university studies in Barcelona when she earns a full-tuition scholarship from the state. Andrea arrives in Barcelona with grand expectations both for her new life in the city and for her living situation with her grandmother’s family based on rosy childhood memories of brief visits to her apartment on Calle de Aribau. However, Andrea discovers that the family has been forced to sell half of the home after her grandfather’s death, moving their belongings into a tight, cramped space. The household has fallen into disrepair, filled with cobwebs, dust, and piles of her grandmother’s once fine furniture.

Andrea is a creative and empathetic young woman with a unique sensitivity to music, objects, and interesting qualities in the people around her. She develops complex relationships with her family members and friends that evolve over the course of the novel. Her relationship with her Uncle Román shifts from one of passive wonder, to troubled identification, to a mixture of love, anger, and grief.