1960s. In a small village in Messinia, three sisters, Dimitra, Anastasia, and Myrto, grow up in the shadow of a domineering father and a mother who has no say. Their only outings are every Sunday for church and the village festival, once a year. The times are tough, but the actions are tougher.
One day, the father abandons them and disappears. The social stigma is heavy for the family he left behind, but along with it comes liberation from the strict rules he had imposed. Gradually, the girls emigrate to three different continents, and over time, family ties are severed. Almost thirty years later, a phone call from their homeland will disrupt their until then peaceful lives. The return to their village becomes imperative, and the impending death of the mother they left all alone without caring for her will confront them with secrets and truths they had concealed. The past returns to the present, demanding answers.
What happened that made their father abandon them? Why did they leave their mother to her fate? Why should their ancestral home not leave their hands? What secret does the cellar in the basement of the house hide? The three sisters, over their dying mother, ask only one question: "Mother, all these years, why didn't you cleanse the shame?"