Portugal, 1968. Salazar, the fascist dictator who reigned the longest time in the world, falls from a chair and suffers a stroke. When he returns to the São Bento mansion to convalesce, he is no longer President of the Council. But no one tells him the truth: not his faithful housekeeper Maria de Jesus, nor his maids Aparecida, Socorro, and Teresinha, nor his personal doctor. For two years he lives under a meticulously constructed illusion, believing he is still President, until his death in 1970.

Follows five women who fight for the stability of an hotel they inherited, living an "old and irresolvable conflict", with many conversations that have been postponed and much that remains to be said within a family.