In a country long gripped by drought, water has become the priceless commodity over which a deadly war is being waged. In remote towns and villages, far from the safety of the city, the resistance does what it can to oppose the water company whose guards ruthlessly secure and control the water supply, but each small victory seems like one more step towards eventual defeat. When an unexpected rain leads a group of water security guards to a town long since thought abandoned, they find an old woman, identified only as Mother, and a group of girls in a classroom. A journalist, two aid workers and a doctor arrive soon afterwards, and what they discover there defies ordinary explanation