Mali Shamay died of cancer during her military service, finally succumbing to the disease she had been suffering from for several years before enlisting. By army and government rules, she is considered a fallen IDF soldier and her parents are active participants in all national commemoration ceremonies and activities.
But her sister, Adi, finds it difficult to bridge the gap between her personal pain and grief over losing her sister – who just happened to die of cancer during her army service – and between the “national industry of bereavement” – leading to severe friction with her parents.
Adi embarks on an emotional journey to find out, for herself and for her parents, whether being part of this national bereavement family – even if the soldier did not die in combat – actually relieves the pain.
She joins a support group for sisters of fallen IDF soldiers. Among them is Efrat Avraham who, according to her, is Israeli bereavement “nobility”. As single daughters, they both have to deal with a tense relationships with their bereaved parents and with the constant presence of the tragic deaths of their loved ones and feelings of guilt.
After several years of estrangement, Adi returns to her parents’ home and asks them to move closer to her, their only surviving daughter, but they feel that if they leave the house that has Mali’s room in it – a room that has been left unchanged – they will be betraying her memory.
As Adi progresses on her journey, she finds that she is able to gain a new, somewhat more realistic and compassionate perspective of the different ways of coping with loss.