Leda is a middle-aged divorcée devoted to her work as an English teacher and to her two children. When her daughters leave home to be with their father in Canada Leda anticipates a period of loneliness and longing. Instead slightly embarrassed by the sensation she feels liberated as if her life has become lighter easier. She decides to take a holiday by the sea in a small coastal town in southern Italy. But after a few days of calm and quiet things take a menacing turn. Leda encounters a family whose brash presence proves unsettling at times even threatening. When a small seemingly meaningless event occurs Leda is overwhelmed by memories of the difficult unconventional choices she made as a mother and their consequences for herself and her family. The seemingly serene tale of a woman's pleasant rediscovery of herself soon becomes the story of a ferocious confrontation with an unsettled past.