Synopsis
KARMELE, a young Basque nurse exiled in France with her parents as a result of the Spanish Civil War (1936), is working at a field hospital when she is invited to sing on a European tour organized by the Basque Cultural Embassy. Its objective is to denounce General Franco’s coup. Soon Karmele’s charisma makes her popular among her peers. One of them is Txomin, a renowned trumpeter, with whom Karmele falls in love and with whom she has her first daughter. The family will settle in Paris, but when the Nazis advance (1940) they decide that it is time to leave for a new exile, this time to Venezuela.
Thanks to his contacts with Basque political activists in Caracas, Txomin plays the trumpet at an exclusive club, and Karmele gets a job at a hospital. That enables her to send some money to her parents, who have returned to their town in the Basque Country and are trying to get their lives back after the fascist victory in the war. By then the couple has had another child and they have a comfortable lifestyle. They feel more united and happier than ever, but the Basque Government asks them to return to the Basque Country to carry out espionage and information work for the American secret services (1944), determined to put an end to the Franco dictatorship in Spain.
The return home is much harder than Karmele had expected. The Francoist authorities’ control and repression are suffocating, especially for a family such as Karmele’s that refuses to simply accept injustice. Karmele and Txomin carry out clandestine information and propaganda work, but when Txomin is arrested and imprisoned the reprisals they are subjected to multiply. Not allowed to work, singled out, defenceless, and having reduced pay due to the gradual loss of support from the US, Karmele plans to return to exile in South America as soon as Txomin is released from prison.
However, upon leaving prison, Txomin does not go along with his wife’s idea. He decides to return to the struggle, to go underground. Karmele had not anticipated this blow. Her life partner has plans of his own. They no longer decide things together. She is alone, with three children in her care and in an environment in which the local authorities harass her. When the Americans’ promise to put an end to Franco’s government fades once and for all, and Txomin dies in prison, Karmele faces her most difficult decision. Going back to Venezuela by herself to work to support the family, Karmele is convinced that it is the only way for her children to one day have a future and to recover what has been violently taken from them: freedom.