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.