Along the mysterious and calm landscapes of Soria, only one road leads to Almajano, and right at the corner of this street we find a bakery. Raul and Oscar, brothers-in-law, start working there at 3 am every morning, burying their hands in dough. On Mondays and Fridays, in the few villages nearby where no more than 10 houses remain occupied, people wait by their windows to hear the siren announcing the arrival of the bakers. It’s a social duty Raul and Oscar feel they should continue doing, testifying to the slow depopulation of the villages as the elder generation leave empty houses behind. Starting in the middle of summer, we begin to follow Raul and Oscar to their village trips and make our first encounters with different villagers: Some are only here for the summer, others are here all year long.

 

               They guide us through their childhood and we explore what summer would have looked like when there were still schools and children around, what social life would have been like in the streets and Plazas. As the August village gatherings come to an end, we start seeing the first villagers leave to spend the winter in their second homes, and as the winter approaches, the villages empty more and more. Through the bakers, and their children, we discover the reality of what surrounds them: ruined, semi-abandoned villages that are collapsing under the pressure of time. Rumor says one old woman still lives in a remote village under ruins and refuses any contact with others, others talk about the sacking of windows and bricks, superstition intersect with reality and creates an atmosphere of decay and nostalgia.

 

            As we follow the process of abandonment right through the winter, we dive into what it feels to be the last true inhabitants of those villages and to experience the increasing silence that comes with winter. Anecdotes intersect and echo each other to reveal a true nostalgia for the joyful life that once seemed to fill the streets, as the villagers mourn the village before seeing it collapse.

 

              This documentary is about mourning, ageing, and letting go of the past. It is one of the last testimonies to a way of life that seemed to be more simple and complete.