A retired Georgian film star, used to playing heroic leads, embarks on a cathartic odyssey after being offered a supporting role of an unpleasant elderly man.

A custody battle goes awry for mother Lile when her son is sent to live with her mother-in-law, Nina. Time passes and Lile eventually hears that her son, Luka, has been killed in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. It's now 1993 and the war is drawing to an end. Lile travels back to the village where Luka was raised to collect his body for burial. Upon arrival, however, Lile is met with heavy resistance from Nina and what's more, Luka's body has not yet arrived - ongoing fighting having prevented it from reaching the village. An increased threat from the war sees the villagers flee for their safety, leaving Lile and Nina the sole occupants in the village. There they sit, awaiting the arrival of their loved one's corpse whilst locked in a battle of escalating enmity.

Three decades after their separation, Irina and Nana remain mesmerized by memories of earlier days. But when Irina returns to the small community she left — where Nana stayed to start a traditional family — the women must reconcile with the past and their complex feelings.