Nuca, one of the world’s leading bee specialists, celebrates her birthday surrounded by family traditions. As the family matriarch, time is relentless in its toll on her memory loss. In an attempt to remember, she revisits family photographs, and as the past and present intertwine, secrets begin to surface. At this celebration, it won't just be the photos that are revealed.

Miguel, a 7-year-old boy, lives with three generations of estranged women in an old house. Among them is his mother who, after a traumatic divorce, distances herself from the boy. Miguel takes comfort in Carmen, an enigmatic Venezuelan immigrant who works as a maid for this Brazilian family. Carmen becomes an ambiguous mother figure for the boy, who develops an intimate and unusual bond with her, introducing him to a universe in which the real and the imaginary intertwine.