For Zhana, a single mother from Georgia, surrogacy is the only way to give her teenage daughter Elene a better and more dignified life. She has no education, works as a cashier in a local supermarket, and grew up somewhere between an orphanage and the streets of Tbilisi. Out of desperation, she rents her body to childless foreign couples. $14,000 for nine months of pregnancy. The amount, which seems high at first, is quickly used up, and before she knows it, she is caught in a vicious circle. From pregnancy to pregnancy, her health deteriorates. Zhana tries to hide her growing belly from her daughter, but Elene is also getting older and smarter—and what will happen when she sees through her mother? The fear of poverty and her work as a surrogate mother push her aging body to its limits.

The film accompanies Zhana until the end of her last surrogacy. We witness how she suffers from pain, how she is threatened by a father, how she has to fight for her money – and how the mother-daughter relationship develops. 9-Month Contract is a highly emotional film about a mother's unconditional love for her daughter, but it also depicts the precarious living conditions in Georgia.

Der Film wird von einem Filmgespräch mit der Produzentin Ana Khazaradze und der Co-Produzentin Sylvia Nagel begleitet.