As Cotopaxi spews ash, issuing an eerie penumbra over Quito and threatening to erupt, a young woman confronts dormant familial conflicts in Ecuadorian writer-director Juan Sebastián Jacome’s poignant new drama.

Desperate for a place to store her things as volcanic disaster looms, Caridad turns to her long-estranged Galo father for help. Galo abandoned Caridad’s mother long ago and is eager to make amends, but questions concerning the nature of his transgressions linger, straining communication between father and daughter and casting grave doubts over the possibility of reconciliation.

Alternating between the stunning spectacle of Cotopaxi and the uneasy intimacy of Caridad and Galo’s reunion, Ashes deftly balances the grandiose and the personal, juxtaposing events beyond our control with matters that can only be resolved by having the courage to break the silence and reach out.