Three teenagers, confined to an isolated country estate, spend their days listening to homemade tapes that teach them a whole new vocabulary. Any word that comes from beyond their immediate family is instantly given a new meaning.

For instance, "sea" means a large armchair and "zombies" are little yellow flowers. Their controlling parents terrorize the teens into submission. Only the father can leave the estate, to earn money as a manager at a nearby factory. One outsider allowed on the premises—Christina, a woman who performs sex acts for the teenage son.

When Christina gets tired of the son and begins a lesbian affair with the elder daughter, it throws the household into chaos.