Filmmaker Agnieszka Holland exposes viewers to the anguish that envelops a family as it watches one of its own die a slow, heart-wrenching death. Although the father, wracked by grief, is resigned to his sick baby's fate, the mother, Julie (Miranda Otto), refuses to give up, seeking the counsel of a faith healer. Julie's the only one who still has hope in a cure, but her relatives wonder if she's putting too much stock in the power of a stranger.