A provincial hostess bar (a "casa de alterne") managed by a dysfunctional family: a father, mother, and their two daughters.
To settle the debt and save his own life, the father is forced to sacrifice his youngest daughter by selling her into prostitution to the mobsters.
Screened at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section and was Portugal's official submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film . Plot Summary