Joanna Hogg writes and directs this gothic drama starring Tilda Swinton in a dual role as both middle-aged film-maker Julie and her elderly mother, Rosalind. Soon after the death of Julie's father, the two women visit a seemingly deserted country hotel shrouded in fog. While Julie tries to write a film about her mother, Rosalind recounts painful memories from her wartime childhood spent in the hotel, which was then a family home. As Rosalind's birthday approaches, Julie must come to terms with her complex feelings regarding her mother.