At a wake one night in 1945, a group of aged women recall the life of one of their number. Sixty years before, Thérèse was barely 20 years old when she eloped with her boyfriend, Firmin, a blacksmith, to Châtillon, a town in Provence. Here, she makes the acquaintance of the wealthy Madame Numance, who is known for her good deeds. Realising that Thérèse is pregnant and unemployed, Madame Numance insists that she moves into a house on her estate. Whilst Firmin resents the arrangement, Thérèse soon finds that she can exploit the situation, using her benefactor's naivety and generosity for her own gain..

In post-Franco Spain, a woman is hard-pressed to figure out what the new rules for women are. In this melodrama based on the novel by Almudena Grandes, Malena (newcomer Adriana Gil) explores life and relationships in the ever-changing world she finds herself in. Complicating matters for Malena is the example of her older sister, Reina, who is impeccably well-behaved. What's a girl to do except seek solace in the arms of as many men as possible? As she stumbles from catastrophe to catastrophe, Malena becomes her family's poster-child for what not to do with one's life.