Messi and Maud

40-year-old Maud feels like she has failed. After years of trying, she and her husband Frank have to accept that they will never have children. To breathe new life into their relationship, Frank takes her on a trip to Patagonia, Chile. While Frank puts all of his energy into making a new start, Maud con- tinues to be obsessed with having a child. After one final quarrel on the subject, she abandons Frank to travel alone, without destination, over Chile’s serpentine topography. Maud attempts to reinvent her identity with every new encounter, giving different names, nationali- ties, and personal narratives to different strangers. One day, she catches a ride with a vulgar, sexually aggressive trucker and his young son, who calls himself “Messi”. In a moment of desperation, Maud ees the trucker with Messi in tow. The pair forge a eeting yet erce bond, becoming a sort of sur- rogate family of two. Slowly, Maud begins to rembrace who she is as she realizes that there is more to life than the idealized vision she had of motherhood. After the long journey from the rough and cold South of Patagonia to the sweltering heat of the Northern dessert, Maud nally makes peace with herself.