Plot Summary

This film depicts the laborious and isolated existence of Emilia, a working class, urban, Latina housewife in the U.S. Emilia's detached attitude towards her husband and children suggests deep unhappiness and a fatalistic resignation. She vicariously experiences her dreams of romance and adventure through the female protagonist of her favorite soap opera. The film intermixes the fantasy world of the television program with the reality of the Emilia's daily life, exploring the profound sense of dissatisfaction and acute feelings of entrapment experienced by women within society's traditional roles. There is not much difference between Emilia's "real" life and her soap opera life in that the woman is confined in both environments.