Maria is doing everything to move on in life. She spends her daytime working at a hardware store and her evenings going to school – and yet she strangely just seems to be treading water. As the only daughter, she self-sacrificingly takes care of the increasingly desolate household of her parents. Her father is nasty and unpredictable, her mother is depressed and visibly overwhelmed by her husband's uncontrolled and violent outbursts. When a particularly brutal incident happens, the brothers finally step into action, but are subsequently forced to leave their home. The pressure on Maria grows immeasurably, when she reaches for a knife to stave off an unrequited approach by her boss. Teresa Villaverde slowly and painfully shapes the unstoppable downfall of this increasingly rigid young woman, who on the one hand finds it hard to open up, on the other hand constantly struggles for intimacy and affection, even when all hope is lost. Maria de Medeiros shines in the lead role, and gives her character a remarkably raw, sensual and gloomy intensity, which – borne by Vasco Pimentel's wonderfully elegiac soundtrack – is in bold contrast with the deliberately sober, elegantly constructed mise-en-scène of the film.