"Eleni" is based on the true story of a New York Times reporter who went searching for his past in Greece. The reporter's name is Nicholas Gage.

As a very young boy, he is sent to America to join relatives at the end of World War II. He has a sharp memory of his mother promising to join him as soon as possible. But his mother never arrives, and word finally comes that she has been killed in the confused days of the Greek civil war (approx. 1946-1948.)

The Greek civil war occurred immediately following World War II. The monarchists, loyal to the King of Greece battled the communists, who wanted to overthrow the King and give power to the people. Nick’s village gets taken over by the communists and that’s when the trouble really begins.

As the movie opens, years have passed, but the agony of that loss has not faded for Nick Gage. He feels he cannot rest until he finds the answers to the questions that haunt him: Why was his mother killed? Who killed her? He arranges to be sent to Greece on assignment for his newspaper without even telling his wife. His wife, who has had to live with his agony, discovers him packing a gun.

The movie tells Gage's story in 1978, and then uses flashbacks to tell his mother's story. The adult Nick is played by John Malkovich as an introspective, cold intelligent man who harbors deep hurts and angers that cause great harm to his most significant relationships. He doesn’t appreciate his wife and takes his children for granted.

The flashbacks center on the last days of his mother, played by Kate Nelligan as a remarkably strong, courageous, clearheaded peasant woman.

The movie starts by looking through the eyes of an adult American who seeks answers from his childhood and his past. He begins the movie as a cold man, blind to what is really important.