The year is 1981. Rachel Gerlik a 42 year-old widow, mother of two beautiful teenage daughters, Esti and Tami, wants to join the founding group of a new religious settlement in the West Bank. The problem is that the acceptance committee won?t accept her unless she remarries and proves that she and her daughters can meet the group?s religious and ideological standards. When Tami, Rachel?s youngest daughter, is accused of seducing some boys from her youth movement, Rachel is forced to weigh her alliances. Only Yossi, a 50 year-old bachelor, and the new man in Rachel?s life, can show Rachel that being an outcast is not as bad as it seems.

Director Joseph Cedar understates the politics of the settlements and focuses instead on the awakening of a woman struggling with her own needs, those of her family and the pressures of her peers. It is a portrait, although understated, of a political movement that still resonates is present day Israel.