[4] The film follows Vitalina Varela, a character who previously appeared in Pedro Costa's Horse Money.

[5] Vitalina Varela follows its titular character, a Cape Verdean woman who arrives in Lisbon to meet her husband who's been gone for 40 years.

We follow Vitalina through the shanty town of Fontainhas as she navigates the traces that her husband left behind, discovering his secrets and his illicit life.

Vitalina Varela was theatrically released in the United States by Grasshopper Film on February 21, 2020, and on DVD and Blu-ray on September 8, 2020.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Rigorous and beautifully composed, Vitalina Varela is a quietly absorbing drama whose placid surface belies hidden depths.