When seamstress Ana places a cake on the kitchen table, her adolescent daughter Ivana just shakes her head and turns away. Her husband Jovan also wants her to drop the subject. With this gesture, Ana celebrates the birthday of her son who, according to the hospital, died immediately after he was born. He would be 20 years old now. Ana shares the fate with many other Serbian women and believes she had her newborn child stolen from her so the infant could be given up for illegal adoption for money. A new clue gives Ana reason to hope again.
A few years ago, an outrageous scandal came to light in Serbia; a scandal whose resolution is still ongoing because the authorities continue to stonewall the investigation. In thousands of cases of systematic child theft over several decades, hospitals are said to have sold newborn babies with the help of a clandestine network of doctors, undertakers and government employees, and informed the parents that their child had died. Featuring an expressive performance from the female lead and a moving screenplay, Miroslav Terzić’s film carefully unfolds a story of loss and hope.