The year is 1950. Classical piano prodigy Eurídice dreams of studying at the Vienna Conservatory. Her sister, Guida, however, is the first of the siblings to make it to Europe, albeit fleetingly: after having eloped with a Greek sailor, Guida soon returns to Rio de Janeiro pregnant and alone, unbeknownst to Eurídice. Kept apart by a terrible lie, years pass as the two sisters forge their respective paths through their city's teeming bustle, each believing the other to be half a world away.
When searching for a blessing on the day of her firstborn child's naming ceremony, Sakina is instead given a curse. A travelling sheikh prophecies that her son, Muzamil, would die at the age of 20. In what is now a coming-of-death tale, a devastated Sakina is sentenced to mourn her son while he lives - an endeavor her husband could not stand to bear. Growing up under the constant loom of death, Muzamil becomes increasingly curious about what it means to live beyond his mother's confines. Encouraged by local elders, the overprotective Sakina relents and allows her son to study the Quran with the other children his age. And in this newly found freedom, Muzamil finds friends, enemies, love, and tempters, though what he truly seeks is a sense of the present and a chance at the future.
Zhenia, a Russian-speaking immigrant from the East enters the lives of the rich residents of a bland, walled off community as a masseur. Despite their wealth, the residents emit an inner sadness, a longing. The mysterious newcomer's hands heal, his eyes seem to penetrate their souls. To them, his Russian accent sounds like a song from the Communist past, a memory of their seemingly safer childhood. Zhenia is able to change their lives.
Ireland, 1845 on the eve of The Great Hunger. Colmán Sharkey, a fisherman, a father, a husband, takes in a stranger at the behest of a local priest. Patsy, a former soldier in the Napoleonic wars arrives just ahead of 'the blight,' a disease that eventually wipes out the country's potato crop, contributing to the death and displacement of millions. As the crops rot in the fields, Colmán, his brother and Patsy travel to the English Landlord's house to request a stay on rent increases that Colmán predicts will destroy his community. His request falls on deaf ears and Patsy's subsequent actions set Colmán on a path that will take him to the edge of survival, and sanity. It is only upon encountering an abandoned young girl that Colmán's resolve is lifted. Just in time for the darkness of his past to pay another visit.