 1964, a village in Galilee. The Mukhtar collaborates with Israeli military rule. Someone is forging work permits, and the Mukhtar s son and a steady metalsmith, Mahmud, want to marry the same woman. These story lines cross when the village teacher is arrested and jailed for the forgeries, with the Mukhtar s approval. Mahmoud discovers who the real forger is and goes to the Mukhtar, whose son assumes Mahmud has come to denounce him. He sets off to burn down Mahmoud s house; tragedy follows. At Mahmud s side through his troubles is Mabruq, the village fool who, like others, particularly a young woman named Jamilah, still suffers from witnessing horrors in the 1948 war.