Katrin, a young German delinquent, is sent to Portugal as part of a programme of social re-integration. Taking her problems with her to the desert-like landscapes of the Alentejo, she meets Julia, also placed there by social services, with whom she makes a desultory acquaintance, and Pedro, who lives in the area, and who is as lost and out of sorts as she is. The connections with other people they are always seeking never work out, and the relationships that develop between them inevitably break down, since these young people cannot manage to pull themselves out of their apathy and loneliness.