This is the story of two villages, two lovers, two brothers, and two Spains. The dark swallows witness the doomed passion of Bernardo, carpenter and dreamer, and Elvira, self-willed daughter of the despotic leader of local affairs, who live in neighbouring villages on the austere Castilian plain. The clash of opposing villages and hostile parents threatens their happiness, but the far greater conflict of civil war destroys it.

With the skill of a Greek dramatist, the author builds the inevitable tragedy, evoking the pettiness of village life, the harrowing bitterness of war, and the lives of simple people controlled by events too powerful to escape. The Dark Swallows is written with a directness that brings the story to a moving conclusion and reveals with rare understanding the emotions and background of Spain's brutal war.