A matchmaker arranges for Marina, a widowed young woman whose mother-in-law has accepted payment, to bear a child for a dying man from the Lloyd family. Marina protests, but her mother-in-law forcefully reminds her of her dead husband and orders her taken away. At night, Marina is brought to a dark, superstitious household and warned not to enter another resident's room. She is pushed into a designated room, where an unknown voice questions her presence.