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A proud 14-year-old boy struggles to come to grips with his mother's new husband in this moving Iranian drama. Following the death of his father, Mehrollah leaves his remote inland village heads for a coastal city to make enough money to support his mother and sisters. He is gone for a long time and when he returns home, joyously bearing gifts and money for the family, he is shocked to discover that his mother has married a policeman. It makes it worse that they have moved to a bigger home. Mehrollah considers his mother's sudden marriage an insulting implication that he was not man enough to support them. He therefore rejects his stepfather and refuses to enter the new house, preferring instead to live in the old home. His best friend Latif acts as a willing go-between for Mehrollah and his family. Meanwhile, the angry young boy vents his feelings by vandalizing his mother's new home. One day he becomes terribly ill and thanks to Latif, is finally taken to the new home to recover. Once he is better, Mehrollah steals his step father's gun and returns to the city to force his former employer to pay all the wages he owes the boy. The step-father decides to teach the boy a lesson and heads off to arrest him. They are heading back from the city when the cop's motorcycle breaks down. Now the two adversaries have no choice but to walk across the desert with no food or water to get home. As the two endure their harrowing journey they cannot help but learn to respect and even like each other.