A woman returns home after years away to find her mother living modestly and seemingly without wealth, despite monthly money sent for living expenses. Servants reveal that the mother saved all the money in a bank account for the daughter's dowry but kept no valuables in the house. Suspicious, the daughter insists on uncovering what’s hidden behind a forbidden curtain. The mother reveals it holds a painful past she gambled away to secure the family’s future. The daughter demands to open it, setting the stage for a confrontation with her mother’s secret.