An ancient crater slowly filling with water - stagnant water, smelling of moss and mud. This is Lake Bratsano. Antonia arrives here to set up her home, after countless battles to find a decent roof over her head in Rome.

Proud and determined Antonia, with her disabled husband and four children, fighting fiercely for a better life. Antonia, who places all her hopes on her daughter, Gaia, and pursues her like Cerberus: to learn to read, to study, to climb socially.

And Gaia? Gaia learns not to ask, not to complain, to read. To do her mother's bidding, which becomes increasingly harsh and obsessive. But every time she raises her head, Antonia's gaze pierces her like a blade. Gaia dives into the lake without fearing its depths, she runs through the nights on a motorcycle with the lights off, she rebels against the unbearable banality of life. Gaia knows that no matter how hard she tries, she will never become "like the others," as Antonia dreams. The new millennium has arrived, the world is changing somewhere far away, but here, in front of the lake, everything remains the same.

No matter how fast you run, the stagnant water of a life without prospects will always be in front of you.