In Northern Albania, in the "Cursed Mountains", which are said to have been created by the Devil himself, are living the "Sworn Virgins" - the last man-women of Europe. A collection of laws from the Middle Ages, the "Kannun", passed on for generations by word-of-mouth, allows families who have lost their male leader - often because of a blood feud - to name a woman from the family to take his place. An absolute requirement for her new status is that she makes an irrevocable vow to preserve her virginity forever.

Adult women can make the oath to take the place of the deceased father or brother. But even newborn girls can be declared sons and raised as boys as a way of providing the family with a male heir. Once in a while women also take the oath to escape a forced marriage. Through this, they expect to gain more recognition in the male-dominated society of Albania.

These so-called oath-virgins, or "Burrnesha", are highly respected in the family and receive the status of men. They do men’s work, and dress and behave like men. They are men in a social, rather than in a sexual sense. The "Sworn Virgins" adapt their roles so perfectly that, over time, they are no longer recognized as women outside their family. Over the years, the woman in them is lost.