Summary Greece, early twentieth century. A bourgeois family is on the verge of breaking up. The mother has abandoned the family, and the father, a retired officer, keeps his three daughters as well as the illegitimate son of the oldest daughter confined in the house. After his death, the three sisters live through their personal drama, as they meet a captain of the sanitation service, Mourouzis. The eldest, Eleni, imbued with the morals of the time and closely identifying with her father, tries to take his place. The middle one, Maria, who represents rebellion, goes off with Mourouzis, while the youngest, Anna, skating on thin ice through all this, is completely destroyed.