Under the imposing snow-capped mountains of Utah, a Mexican family lives with the uncertainty of a loved one's disappearance.

Bobbing around on Mediterranean waters aboard the Ocean Viking, aid workers from the French relief service SOS Méditerranée gaze at the horizon. Is that a rubber dinghy in the distance, or is it garbage? The organization sails up and down the Libyan coast looking to pick up refugees in boats. On board is a 30-strong team ready to offer help and support refugees with their asylum applications.

A summer day in Italy. The camera follows the deaf-mute Giacomo and a childhood girlfriend Stefi closely – in the woods, by the river – without wanting to disrupt the mystery of their relationship, between restrained sensuality and childhood games.

As the era of psychiatric asylums in Europe draws to an end, Ladies in Waiting opens a window to its past. Through the unique perspectives of caregivers from the Psychiatric Hospital of Attica - the last remaining one in Greece - and the lives of care-receivers, we take a peek inside the taboo world of mental illness.