Anna, a 32-year-old Belgian-Japanese journalist, tests
memory institutions, a new technology that lets people
relive their memories. Pregnant with her first child, she
is drawn back to the childhood she left behind in Japan
and the absence of her mother. Anna lost her Japanese
mother in a house fire and moved to Belgium with her
Belgian father shortly afterward. All traces of her Japanese
past were destroyed in the fire, and her father rarely
speaks about their history. Drawn by nostalgia, Anna
immerses herself in her memories. But the deeper she
goes, the more the line between present and past begins
to blur, and her obsession with the memories takes over.
She relives losing her voice as she did after her mother’s
death, and doubts set in. How can she become a mother
like this? And how reliable is her memory? Anna discovers
that her father altered the story of her mother’s death to
protect her. In reality, unhappy with her family’s situation,
Anna accidentally started the fire herself. Forbidden to
speak about it, she was silenced. Now, for the first time,
they confront the past and acknowledge each other’s
pain. Finally, being able to connect with her father and
regaining her voice, Anna leaves the memory institutions
behind and embraces the present, ready to be
a mother herself.