The film revives themes of Angelopoulos' 1975 film ''The Travelling Players'',<ref name="The Guardian 2005-01-21"></ref> and its events span from 1919 to the aftermath of World War II.<ref name="The New Yorker 2005-09-19"></ref> It tells the story of Greek history through the sufferings of one family.<ref name="NYT 2005-09-14"/> A band of refugees that returns to Greece after the Russian Revolution adopts an orphaned girl, Eleni (Alexandra Aidini).<ref name="BBC Online 2005-01-14"/> Eleni becomes the focus of the story.<ref name="NYT 2005-09-14"/> The film follows her through adolescence and the marriage to her musician adopted-brother Alexis (Nikos Poursanidis).<ref name="BBC Online 2005-01-14"/> Eleni becomes pregnant by Alexis,<ref name="NYT 2005-09-14"/> and bears twin boys, who are sent away at birth.<ref name="NYT 2005-09-14"/> Many years later she is forced to marry her widowed adopted father. On her wedding day, Eleni escapes with Alexis to Thessaloniki, where they reunite with their sons.<ref name="NYT 2005-09-14"/> Their lives are then ripped apart by World War II and the ensuing Greek Civil War.<ref name="BBC Online 2005-01-14"/>