In Ham, Ham, the sexy, beautiful teenager Schwia is a small town weaver whose father abandoned her at a young age and her mother raised her and her two sisters by running a bar. Sylvia falls in love with Louis Hershey, the only son of the town's wealthy Samson family, and becomes pregnant with his child. Raised in a greenhouse, Louis José is a weakling who always appears to be a coward under the tutelage of his stern mother, who is very reluctant when she hears that her son is going to marry Sylvia. The story unfolds and follows the love-hate relationship that later develops between Sylvia, Louis José and others. Sylvia (Penélope Cruz), a seamstress at the Samson underwear factory in a small Spanish town, falls in love with Josie, the son of the factory owner, and is pregnant with his child. The indecisive Josie vows to marry Sylvia, but is strongly opposed by her mother.

In order to break them up, Josie's mother hires Lou, a hunky underwear model, to seduce Sylvia, while at the same time succumbing to the charms of Lou's hunky young manhood. Josie is devastated when she senses that her girlfriend has moved on, and finds solace in Sylvia's mother.

Fragile love, confused lust, where does it all go from here ...... The film won the Silver Lion at the 1992 Venice Film Festival.