Chrysalis tells the story of seventeen-year-old Maria Christina, who lives in Metsovo, a small mountain village in Greece, where women are judged according to their physical strength. Tall, thin, gangly, and extremely myopic, Maria Christina lives in the shadow of her sister, who is considered a goddess in the village. Less evident is Maria Christina’s adoration for her sister’s husband, the handsome and accomplished village doctor.

Fate intervenes when Maria Christina’s dull life is abruptly interrupted by the onslaught of the Second World War and the overlapping Greek Civil War. Being the only western gate into the country, her village becomes a strategic location in both wars, which forces her to emerge from her cocoon and into the center of the turmoil. The crisis affects the fate of three generations, all of whom experience the peril of those years in different ways, changing not only the community and Maria Christina’s destiny, but also redefining the role of women in society.