The heroine of this love story is an extraordinary old lady portrayed by Lili Darvas, the famed stage actress. A bedridden matriarch enters into an unspoken pact with her daughter-in-law which will allow her to live proudly and die happily. The young Luca, whose husband, Janos, has been seized by the secret police, concocts a story of his voyage to America and imminent success as a filmmaker. Luca delivers airmail letters filled with Hollywood gossip; Mother devours them. After a while, only Janos really exists in the present, and when he is suddenly sprung from prison, it is too late for the mother, who has opted for the comforts of the past and the hope of the future. What is Love? "Always exact, sad, and noble...a marvelous film, made with a precision of eye and spirit." (Penelope Gilliatt, The New Yorker)