Costica Arhir raises his three children in the village of Acui, Republic of Moldova. His wife has left for Italy three and a half years ago to find work, and has not been home since. More than three years ago, Alexandra, Maria and Alexei's mother left their poor village in Moldavia to go looking for work. She wanted money to repair the house and send her children to a good school. She was supposed to return two years later, but she still hasn't come back. Things are hard for the children's father Costica. Running his modest farm is trouble enough, but he also has to play the roles of both father and mother. The family is tight-knit, but life is difficult, also for the kids. They help with chores around the house, take care of the goats and geese, and seed the land. Meanwhile, questions about the return of their mother are growing.
This gently compassionate and beautifully composed documentary, shot between January and April 2007, uses fictional elements in storytelling and camerawork, creating a stage where the characters interpret themselves.