A film about passion for its own sake, about desire as an uncontrollable force that can cause both pain and pleasure, with a love triangle at its centre. The triangle's corners are Pablo (Eusebio Poncela), a screenwriter/director who increasingly feels distanced from his lover Juan; Pablo's transgender sister Tina (Carmen Maura), who just broke up with her girlfriend; and António (Antonio Banderas), an uptight young man from the family of a big-name politician.

Law of Desire is the first film that Almodóvar produced under the El Deseo banner, as well as his first to put (homo)sexuality and transidentity at centre stage. Following Labyrinth of Passion and Matador, it was also Almodóvar's third film to cast the then little-known newcomer Antonio Banderas.