Iza, uma médica que vive em uma grande cidade, decide que a mãe, Anna, que acabou de ficar viúva e vive no interior, deve morar com ela para não ficar sozinha. Mas a convivência faz com que o relacionamento entre elas, ambas de personalidades fortes, entre em colapso. O filme é uma adaptação do livro homônimo da autora húngara Magda Szabó.
In a small port town at the end of the 19th century children are disappearing. A mysterious man in black who stalks the town may be Death itself. And nine-year-old Laurin is suffering terrifying dreams and hallucinations of a man carrying a sack and frightened children calling for help from behind closed windows.
Kató Kelemen is asked by her father to go to his office and welcome an important business partner of his. When Mr. Andersen arrives he assumes Kató is a secretary and instructs her to deliver a letter. He's about to travel to Venice with his nephew who he has never met before. Since Kató falls in love with Andersen at first sight, she decides to dress like a boy and pretends to be the nephew.