A young court bailiff's first eviction case turns into a nightmare because of a desperate old lady who is willing to sacrifice everything to keep her home.

Gizella Weisz is an middle-aged office worker, who gets a promotion one day. Her boss told her that a new outpost is waiting for her. There she would be heading a new section. She travels from place to another and finally arrives at her new outpost. It is a remote shed, where a half-insane co-worker is waiting for her. It is obvious that Weisz has not been promoted, but punished. However Weisz does not realize that herself. Without questioning she just accepts her promotion.

Emerenc, an elderly and private woman, is hired to be the housekeeper of a struggling writer, Magda. An event in the writer's life prompts Emerenc to disclose details of her traumatizing past, which will bond the two women forever. Based on the novel by Magda Szabó.