The story focuses on events that unfold in a small commune that has dwindled away to a single family hanging on by a thread. When a daughter returns after many years to bring her dying father medicine she does not believe is effective; a bitter clash of ideologies ensues. This brings deeply buried history to the surface and the daughter resorts to a dangerous demonstration of the medicine's inefficiency. The repercussions are extreme and death and fire engulfs the tiny commune.