Mecha (Borges) and her husband Gregorio (Adjemian) spend a hot, humid summer at their country house in northern Argentina with their teenage children. Gregorio worries about getting older, and Mecha drinks excessively, accusing her housemaid of stealing the towels. Frequent visits from her cousin Tali (Moran) and brood of young, noisy children add to the sweltering atmosphere of chaotic menace.

Martel’s feature film debut drips with the steamy torpor of oppressive summer days; the fading wealth of a family symbolized by the fetid swimming pool that they lounge around. The adults are listless, the children almost manic in their confusing games and danger-laced interactions. Martel’s evocative mood piece plays out like a fragmented memory, unsettling and incoherent, but the after-effects linger long and loud in the mind’s eye.