Sotiris is a police investigator in Athens who lives by a strict moral code. An honest man, he carries himself as though held down by the weight of the world. Dora is a cleaning lady, struggling to get by any way she can. Dealt a rough hand in life, she has developed a rich layer of cynicism and mistrust that informs her every action. When a man Sotiris believes is innocent is arrested for a brutal crime, his attempt to uncover the truth results in a grave mistake. Finding himself on the other side of the law for the first time, he places his fate in Dora, the only witness to his malfeasance and the only person who can help him, for better or for worse.

Shadow puppetry is not only part of the heritage of East Asia; Greece had its own traditional form of this popular art. In this leisurely drama, set in 1950s Athens, Antonis Barkis (Kostas Kasakos) is the master puppeteer for a traditional shadow show. However, although he is still making a living, it is clear that other forms of popular entertainment will soon supplant this one. This does not improve Antonis' temper, and his assistant's desires to modernize their entertainments only make it worse.