In the near future, the world’s population has been decreasing. All new pregnancies suffer from an unknown influence that turns the babies into mutants —called zotes— which are immediately targeted and eliminated by the authorities. Judite Foster is now pregnant for the sixth time, although none of her earlier children survived. But this time Judite does not want to follow the state’s protocol for cases like this and so she fleas with her husband, to hide in a run-down hotel near the sea where Gould, a specialist doctor might help them.