In an isolated farmhouse during a period of ethnic cleansing, Johanna and Max attempt to perform an act of selflessness by hiding two persecuted individuals, a musician and a scholar, in an alcove behind their walls. When the money runs out, they are forced to take in a third refugee, a little girl whose father is willing to pay handsomely for her safety. But the alcove isn’t big enough for three, and as the war outside reaches a deafening climax, hunger reduces the protectors and the protected alike to a surreal state of desperation.