In the late summer of 1980, 16-year-old Alda and her 17-year-old sister Maria arrive in Lisbon to escape the civil war in Angola. Left to themselves, they must learn to survive in a foreign city. They must build a new life and become adults. To add to their almost unbearable problems, dreadful news falls upon them. Suprisingly, it is this terrifying news that gives them strength to decide their own fate. In her much-acclaimed debut, director Pocas Pascoal uses her own personal experience of flight and exile to tell the story of a whole generation of Angolan refugees.