Gerónima is based on the life of a Mapuche Indian from the southern Argentine province of Patagonia. With her children, she ekes out a living in that desolate land until a health inspector sees their living situation and deems it intolerable. Until other provisions can be made, he takes the family to a local hospital. But none are made: "civilized" society is capable of defining her as a social problem, but has no method of solving this "problem". Separated from her children and home, Gerónima becomes mentally ill. It is the environment of the hospital, not her home, which proves the more hostile. The film is punctuated by haunting recordings, made in the 1970s, of Gerónima being interrogated by a doctor. While the doctor accumulates information on her way of life, the filmmaker mounts a critique of the notion of judging one culture by the standards of another.