Marfa, a Ukrainian woman living in Brussels in the 1950s, is haunted by the catastrophic death of her child ten years before, at the end of World War II. Torn from her home in her teens, she struggles with dark memories and profound loneliness, exacerbated by her introspective nature. Her story unfolds in alternating narrative and reflective chapters. Steeped in guilt, sadness, and grief, she begins to open, through the fulfilling qualities of work and the ordinary kindness of others, to friendship, hope of redemption, and the possibility of love.