Present Day: Nessim accompanies his grandmother Rosa to visit the grave of her husband, who died forty years ago. Rosa promises to join him at the grave soon. Shortly after, she falls seriously ill. She believes that her grandson strongly resembles her late husband, after whom he was named.
Year 1887: Rosa, aged only twenty, becomes a widow when her husband Rafael dies without leaving an heir. According to the law, Rafael's brother must marry her to continue the family name. However, Rafael's brother David is already married with four children. Rafael's younger brother Nessim, being only eleven, cannot marry her. Despite this, Nessim expresses his desire to marry Rosa, claiming his love for her. For this, he receives a slap from his mother. Rosa earns her living unusually for her time, working in the baths during the day and as a seamstress at night. Her friend Jamila tries to set her up with a tradesman named Eli, but Rosa refuses, knowing she is promised to Nessim by law as long as he is willing to marry her. One night, Nessim seeks refuge with her, despising his own mother. When Nessim's mother comes to take him home with great commotion the next day, the Rabbi intervenes. Since Nessim wants to live with Rosa and she agrees to raise him, and David is relieved to have one less child in the house, Nessim is allowed to stay with Rosa.
Rosa encourages him to study and rejects his declarations of love, reminding him that he is still a child. At the same time, she does not yield to Eli's advances but convinces him to take Nessim on as an apprentice at the age of thirteen. Nessim studies diligently, knowing that this is the only way he can earn money and eventually marry Rosa. However, his coming of age proves to be difficult over the months. He starts to rebel and come home late from playing. When Rosa reproaches him, he retorts that she is not his mother. Rosa pretends to throw him out of the house, and he collapses. Later, when he does household chores, he is mocked by the women of the street as a girl. At the same time, he is deeply horrified when a friend takes him to a brothel, where a woman offers herself to him. Shortly after, when Nessim receives his first job and gets paid, he becomes arrogant, throwing the money at Rosa, claiming to be an adult, and ordering her to bring him food. She responds coolly, stating that he has changed to the extent that she no longer wants him by her side. Nessim leaves her house bewildered.
Five years later, Nessim is of legal age and has a girlfriend. A woman reads his future in a cup and explains that although he has a woman by his side, his heart belongs to another. Nessim returns to Rosa, pretending to visit her on behalf of a friend. However, she recognizes him and embraces him, having never forgotten him. The next morning, she explains to him that she still cannot marry him. He is the man prescribed to her by law. However, she wants to decide for herself. He reluctantly agrees to renounce his right to marry her. However, Rosa does not complete the formal ceremony of renunciation, Chalitza, in front of the rabbi; instead, she leaves the room prematurely. She withdraws, and Nessim collapses lovesick. Many months later, emaciated with pain, he seeks her out. Now she tells him about a young woman who became a widow. She recounts their story together, which ends with this woman asking him to be her husband. Both fall into each other's arms happily.
In the present, Rosa senses her end approaching. One last time, she sits up in her bed and calls Nessim's name before she dies.
