Plot
Raimunda, her sister Sole and Raimunda's daughter Paula are visiting the small village of Alcanfor de las Infantas, in La Mancha region of Spain. Though they both now live in Madrid, the sisters grew up in the village. The three have returned to take care of the gravesite of their parents, who died in a fire a few years previous, and to visit their ailing, dementia-impaired aunt, also named Paula. They also call on Agustina, a next door neighbor who looks in on their aunt every day.
Raimunda and Paula live with Raimunda's husband, Paco, who Paula believes is her father. When Paco attempts to rape Paula, saying that he is not really her father, Paula stabs him to death in self-defense. Claiming her husband has run off, Raimunda hides his corpse in the deep-freezer of a shut-down nearby restaurant she is minding for the absent owner, Emilio. When members of a film crew come to the restaurant to cater a week's meals, the resourceful Raimunda strikes a deal to earn much needed money in her husband's absence.
Meanwhile, Sole returns to the village upon hearing that Aunt Paula has passed. At Aunt Paula's wake Agustina confesses to Sole that she heard Paula talking to the ghost of Sole's and Raimunda's mother, Irene. Encountering her mother's ghost herself in Aunt Paula's house, upon returning to Madrid, Sole finds that the ghost was stowed away in the trunk of her car. Sole lets Irene stay with her to assist at the illicit hair salon Sole operates out of her apartment, posing as a Russian immigrant who doesn't speak Spanish. The two conceal Irene's presence from Raimunda, who hates her mother.
Raimunda reveals to Paula that Paco was not her biological father, promising to tell her the whole story later. Leaving Paula with Sole, with the help of two paid suitably unquestioning female neighbors, Raimunda rents a van and transports the freezer containing the body to a spot by the river Júcar, where they bury it.
Meanwhile, diagnosed with terminal cancer, Agustina comes to Madrid for treatment. When Raimunda visits her in the hospital, Agustina asks Raimunda if she has seen her mother's ghost; Raimunda fears that Agustina too is exhibiting dementia. Agustina hopes the ghost will be able to tell her about her own mother, who disappeared three years before. While staying in Sole's apartment, Paula meets her grandmother's ghost, growing close to her. The next night, Agustina comes to the restaurant and reveals two startling secrets: her mother and Raimunda's father were having an affair, and her mother disappeared on the same day that Raimunda's parents died.
Sole reveals to a skeptical Raimunda that she has seen their mother's ghost, who is in the next room with Paula. Revealing the whole truth, Irene admits that she did not die in the fire. The reason for Raimunda and her estrangement, Irene has come to realize, is that Raimunda's father sexually abused Raimunda, resulting in the birth of Paula. Thus, Paula is Raimunda's daughter and her sister. Unaware of Raimunda's sexual abuse until Aunt Paula told her about it, Irene has never forgiven herself for being oblivious to it and believing Raimunda's pregnancy due to promiscuity. Finding her husband asleep in bed with another woman, Irene started the fire that killed them both. The ashes presumed to be Irene's were the ashes of Agustina's mother, the woman with whom Irene's husband was having an affair.
After the fire, Irene wandered for several days in the countryside until deciding to turn herself in. First, however, she wanted to say goodbye to Aunt Paula, with whom Irene had been living prior to setting the fire and who had lost the ability to look after herself. Paula welcomed Irene home as if nothing had happened, and Irene stayed, caring for her sister and expecting that the police would come soon to arrest her. Due to the closed nature of the superstitious community, however, the police never came. Accustomed to tales of the dead returning, the residents explained the rare sightings of Irene as ghost sightings.
The family reunites at Aunt Paula's house. Irene reveals her presence to Agustina, who continues to believe her to be a ghost. As penance, Irene pledges to stay in the village and care for Agustina as her cancer worsens, saying to Raimunda that it is the least she can do after killing Agustina's mother. Raimunda and her mother embrace and promise to repair their relationship, with Raimunda regularly visiting her mother at Agustina's house.
