Raimunda, her sister Sole and Raimunda's daughter Paula are visiting the small village of Alcanfor de las Infantas, in La Mancha region of Spain. Though they both now live in Madrid, the sisters grew up in the village. The three have returned to take care of the gravesite of their parents, who died in a fire a few years previous, and to visit their ailing, dementia-impaired aunt, also named Paula. They also call on Agustina, a next door neighbor who looks in on their aunt every day.
Raimunda and Paula live with Raimunda's husband, Paco, who Paula believes is her father. When Paco attempts to rape Paula, saying that he is not really her father, Paula stabs him to death in self-defense. Claiming her husband has run off, Raimunda hides his corpse in the deep-freezer of a shut-down nearby restaurant she is minding for the absent owner, Emilio. When members of a film crew come to the restaurant to cater a week's meals, the resourceful Raimunda strikes a deal to earn much needed money in her husband's absence.
Meanwhile, Sole returns to the village upon hearing that Aunt Paula has passed. At Aunt Paula's wake Agustina confesses to Sole that she heard Paula talking to the ghost of Sole's and Raimunda's mother, Irene. Encountering her mother's ghost herself in Aunt Paula's house, upon returning to Madrid, Sole finds that the ghost was stowed away in the trunk of her car. Sole lets Irene stay with her to assist at the illicit hair salon Sole operates out of her apartment, posing as a Russian immigrant who doesn't speak Spanish. The two conceal Irene's presence from Raimunda, who hates her mother.
Raimunda reveals to Paula that Paco was not her biological father, promising to tell her the whole story later. Leaving Paula with Sole, with the help of two paid suitably unquestioning female neighbors, Raimunda rents a van and transports the freezer containing the body to a spot by the river Júcar, where they bury it.
Starring
Penélope Cruz
Carmen Maura
Lola Dueñas
Blanca Portillo
Yohana Cobo
Chus Lampreave
Spoken languages: Spanish
Subtitles: Danish,Swedish,Norwegian,Finnish
