In 1940, three travelers arrive at a village in Spain. They are hungry and exhausted from crossing illegally through the Pyrenees. Their story, told over a period of 48 hours, is recounted by one of the male travelers. His attention is captured by a five-year-old named Pia who comes near his cafe table. To Pia he begins to address what he thinks and feels in his final hours. Meanwhile, in the 1980s, a woman named Pia is working at an inn on an island in the Atlantic. As Pia's story starts, a storm envelopes the island and a boat flounders offshore. Pia and the other islanders go to help--and past and present calamities clash.