Rembetiko is a Greek form of urban blues first performed in low-class clubs where the social "misfits" of the twenties, known as "rembetes," gathered. The music is simple (sometimes improvised), dolorous, altogether haunting. It is underground in spirit, evoking forbidden thoughts and topics; and sometimes in fact, as when it was banned during the Metaxa dictatorship. The film by Costas Ferris tells of the life of a famous rembetiko singer, Marika Ninou (portrayed by the exuberant Sotiria Leonardou, who also co-wrote the script). Born into the Smyrna rembetiko tradition, reflecting the anguish of refugees from the Turkish scourge of 1922, Marika's life is as passionate and ultimately as sad as her songs. Through her music is filtered the story of modern Greece, from the twenties through the Nazi Occupation and the civil war that followed. The film's stately camera style is beautifully counterposed to the music.