In 1970, under the repressive Greek junta, Mihalis is a middle-aged poet who is arrested and sent to an island detainment camp for left-wing intellectuals and artists who are perceived as a threat to the right-wing regime. He finds his old friend Vagelis imprisoned there, and quickly perceives that Vagelis seems to be in love with a beautiful young girl named Nefeli who also resides in the camp. Conditions in the camp are strict, but the prisoners are allowed some liberties, including the ability to leave the grounds of the camp during the day and walk along the beach. One day, Vagelis takes Mihalis to an abandoned church on the island. Inside, Mihalis is awed by an intricate mural of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the Byzantine style being painted by Nefeli.  Mihalis becomes fixated on Vagelis’ infatuation with Nefeli and eventually confronts him, and accuses him of neglecting his wife in Athens. Vagelis punches Mihalis in response, and Nefeli becomes a point of contention within their friendship. Conditions in the camp become more harsh as lenient guards are replaced with stricter ones more closely aligned with the regime. The female prisoners are transferred, although their whereabouts remain a mystery. Rumors begin to spread that freedom can be gained by signing loyalty oaths. After they return to the church, Mihalis and Vagelis find that the mural has been repainted with irreverent bacchanalian imagery in which figures — who appear to be the two men — are present. Vagelis believes that Nefeli has started to communicate to him through the mural about whether not not to sign a loyalty oath, but he cannot determine which course of action she wants him to take.  Upon their final visit to the mural, they find that it now bears a modernist style and Nefeli’s likeness as a stand-in for the Virgin Mary. After several weeks, Mihalis and Vagelis are ushered onto a ship bound for Athens, although neither claim to have signed oaths. On board, Vagelis is briefly reunited with Nefeli, who Mihalis notices is much older than she appeared to be from afar. They all separate when they disembark, and Mihalis and Vagelis are reunited with their wives. Three weeks later, Mihalis and Vagelis see Nefeli as she leaves the police station to which they all must report every week. As he signs his name in the police’s register, Vagelis searches for a hidden message in the signature Nefeli wrote just above his own.