For his final feature film, Portuguese master Manoel de Oliveira offers a foreboding fable of familial unrest. Gebo lives a quiet life in a European port city with his wife, Doroteia, and his daughter-in-law, Sofia. But the family is haunted by the absence of Joao, Gebo's son, and Sofia s husband. Rumors are circulating of robberies and even darker dealings in neighboring ports. Is Joao responsible? One night, he arrives home and all is brought to light.