In east Los Angeles, Ida a prostitute who is accused of killing a client. She is dragged into a prison overseen by nuns and shadows of the crucifix, but the other prison is her inner life, as she battles at the walls which surround her—both material and psychic.

An atmospheric fever dream unfurling over motel rooms and prison cells, Nina Menkes’s groundbreaking first feature traces the cyclical nature of exploitation. Simmering with rage, Tinka Menkes’s potent evocation of a fractured female psyche unveils the emotional ravage of transactional encounters.