A domineering,reclusive, and ostentatiously pious widow in a small Spanish town keeps such close watch on her daughters that they are unable to have normal social lives. However, the eldest is allowed to become engaged to an unprincipled young man, primarily for the financial advantages it will bring the mother, Bernarda. Jealousy and envy ensues among the other daughters.
Clara Bell is a busy Euro MP with a husband and child at home and a high powered career - but on a trip to Paris her ordered existence is overturned by a murder and a chance encounter.