In an isolated village of the Alentejo region, a conflict arises. José Vitorino, one of the landowners of the region, rich in prehistoric monuments, wants to build a luxurious solarium in lands filled with ancient rocks, places of devotion and sacred rituals. Indifferent to the people’s protest, who believe in the magical powers of the stones and that the region’s drought is due to the rocks’ destruction, José Vitorino hires an architect to plan his new house. On christmas eve, in the middle of the winter solstice, a strange ceremony around a dolmen, once an altar for bloody sacrifices in more remote times, releases a harmful spell. A race against time to reverse the faulty charm begins.
Cristina is twenty years old. Her father was declared missing in action during the war in Angola many years before. One day in church the girl meets a man about fifty years old who tries various times, unsuccessfully, to make the sign of the cross. The man is called Cristovão. A few days later the two meet again. The man offers to help her look for her father. A relationship based on memories and confessions is formed between them. But soon they each return to their own solitude.
Álvaro Serpa, jornalista, estaciona o carro junto ao mar. Assiste por acaso a uma discussão entre Álvaro Allen e Ana Mónica, que se refugia dentro do carro de Serpa. A pedido de Ana, Serpa leva-a dali, mas passados alguns quilómetros Ana quer regressar. Encontram Allen morto com um tiro na cabeça. Suicídio? Ana foge e desaparece. Fascinado pelo ar misterioso dessa mulher, o jornalista não a menciona nas declarações à Polícia, e tenta encontrá-la.
