When five Kurdish prisoners are granted one week's home leave, they find to their dismay that they face continued oppression outside of prison from their families, the culture, and the government.
In the half-light of dawn, Halil falls down dead, murdered. His wife, Elmas, cries for justice, but, in fact, there will be no investigation. Life goes on for Elmas: during the day she works in the rice paddies with her little boy and, at night, she goes to catch frogs with the other villagers.
Zelihan and Necmettin, a young couple, live in a small village in the service of an agha. They share their poor "one-eye" room with the agha's ox. In this environment of poverty and loneliness, the agha's brother is determined to seduce Zelihan, whom he has set his eyes on.
The president, who believes that he caused an unjust execution because he complied with the presiding judge in the first death sentence he participated in, is re-investigating the incident after his retirement.
