Early 1800s Latin America. An opulent hacienda awaits on the edge of a misty tropical forest. 30-year-old Isabel, of mixed European and Indigenous descent arrives from England to begin her position as governess in a French-British family. Her task is to educate the two daughters of a recently widowed father.
Neither family nor servant, Isabel becomes a witness to the patriarchal and racist structures of the household. Her pupils, still troubled by the mysterious disappearance of their mother, challenge her beliefs as she tries to uphold Christian standards of decency. With disquieting occurrences in the family, Isabel feels other forces are growing too – animals lurking in the forest, plants creeping under the wallpaper, an
unknown presence inside her…
Resistance grows within all the women in the hacienda, regardless of class or race. One by one, they welcome a feral energy into the house and into their bodies – a force that would rather tear everything apart than continue to be tamed.