After Paula's suicide, her best friend, Ana, recalls the circumstances that united both women in the past and how they lived a close relationship that could have become more than just a friendship if social conventions had not prevented it.

Spain 1640, the reverend superior nun Mariana, attends the death of her younger sister, Isabel's husband, who is overcome with hopelessness and heartache. Isabel then kisses and caresses the cadaver's exposed body as if he were still alive. Mother Mariana