Themis grows up during the brutal German occupation of Greece. In the subsequent Civil War, the country is polarised between Right and Left and Themis' family is bitterly divided. During the violent five-year struggle for control of the country, she fights for Communists and is seduced by the leader of her rebel band. Captured and sent to the notoriously cruel islands of exile, Makronisos and Trikeri, Themis gives birth to a son, Angelos.