When he learns of his mother’s death, Thomas returns to Brazil with Beni, his partner, and is told he now owns a country house that used to belong to a grandmother he never met. Curious to connect with his family history, they visit the house and Thomas is welcomed by two aunts that treat him like a long-lost child. As Thomas becomes increasingly enchanted with the place, Beni begins to suspect that something lurks beneath the façade of a quiet country life.

In the early 1970s, the military dictatorship in Brazil reaches its height. The Paiva Family - Rubens, Eunice, and their five children - live at a beachside house in Rio, open to all their friends. One day, Rubens is taken for questioning and does not return.