I learned to apply makeup to hide the bruises. Mandy was taught violence from a young age: she saw it on her mother's swollen face, endured it from her father's hand, who was the law in the house. She grew up defenseless: in her hometown, a small town in Imathia, people did not interfere in each other's family matters. So, when at eighteen she meets Akis, a philologist from Thessaloniki, she decides to run away, to seek tenderness, independence – to live free, without fear, pain, and shame. But violence has many faces, and before the love fades, Mandy encounters the worst of all: the one that masquerades as love.

On the other side of life, she narrates her trials and joys, the gifts that fate gave and stole from her. She speaks of what she did and what she regretted, of the strength she found within herself even in the depths of despair.

A story about the brutality next door and the cost of survival. About love, which requires sacrifices to be more than just a word.