Eva, the wife of Viktor, the village pastor, invites her mother Charlotte for a visit to her rural home after seven years of separation. Charlotte is a world-renowned pianist, aging and eccentric, who has survived several husbands or partners and lived a cosmopolitan life. Eva, though less artistically gifted than her mother — despite having written two books and playing the piano competently — takes pride in her quieter existence as a wife, mother and care-giver. She looks after her disabled sister, Helena, whom she brought home from the hospital. Helena is paralyzed and can only communicate in fragmented speech, which Eva alone can understand. Eva is also affected by the emotional distance in her marriage to Viktor, a man she respects but does not love, and by the grief of having lost her young son Erik, who drowned just before his fourth birthday. Charlotte is surprised to find Helena living with Eva and reacts with visible discomfort, though she gives Helena a wristwatch as a gift. When Eva plays
Chopin's
Prelude No. 2 in A minor on the piano, Charlotte promptly reinterprets the piece herself, offering a technically and emotionally more refined version. That evening, she muses out loud to herself about gifting her car to Eva, claiming she will fly home and purchase a new one — an apparent gesture of generosity. Late in the night, Charlotte is shaken by a nightmare in which one of her daughters appears to be choking her. Her scream awakens Eva, who follows her into the living room, and the two women begin to talk. Mother and daughter engage in an intense confrontation about their past relationship. Eva accuses Charlotte of having prioritized her career and personal life over motherhood, of having neglected her children emotionally, and even of pressuring her into an abortion during a pregnancy with a man she was actually in love with. Viktor, listening from another room, chooses not to intervene. Charlotte initially responds with disbelief and self-defense, but eventually begins to confront her own failings, acknowledging her emotional detachment and pleading for forgiveness. Meanwhile, Helena — whose condition Eva believes worsened due to Charlotte’s past neglect — painfully crawls out of bed and toward the stairs, calling out weakly, “Mama, come!” In the morning, Charlotte departs on a train accompanied by her agent and reflects on her unsettling encounter with Helena, asking, "Why couldn't she die?" At home, Viktor desperately tries to ease Helena's severe emotional breakdown, while Eva visits the grave of her deceased son, grappling with suicidal thoughts. Eva eventually returns home and writes an apology letter to her mother, which Viktor reads aloud. The scene briefly shifts to a different setting, where Eva appears to read the letter to Charlotte, before returning to Viktor, who seals it, leaving its fate uncertain. ==Cast==