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When Algerian native deported from France travels back to the village in which he was raised, the change that has swept the land connects him to a married woman whose desire to sing American jazz has found her ostracized by both family and community. Kamel (Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche) has been released from prison, and now it seems as if his only option is to return to Algeria. His cousin Bouzid (Abel Jafri) beaten to near death by a group of local teens who impose their belief on the frightened villagers, Kamel joins a small militia determined to put the violent thugs in their place. Later, when aspiring jazz chanteuse Louisa (Meriem Serbah) is shunned by her husband, who kidnaps the couple's son in fears that the boy will be exposed to her corruptive western values, Kamel and the abandoned young woman become bonded by their mutual outsider status. Their relationship is complicated, however, when Kamel sets out to confront the tyrannical teens and Louisa embarks on a frantic journey to re-connect with her missing son.