In the last years of the Ottoman Empire, a poor little Anatolian town named Saripinar is hit by a minor earthquake which has neither destroyed nor left it with many casualties. However, a telegraph sent to the central government exaggerates the situation and mentions that the governor of the town has been severely wounded, making the event a nationwide matter.

Aygül is an unhappy woman who is trying to raise her four children without the help of her unemployed, no-good husband. She starts working in a factory and this becomes the igniter of her consciousness-raising process.

The film is based on 'Fikrimin Ince Gulu', a novel by Adalet Agaoglu, which depicts a first generation gurbetci/guest-worker returning home. It covers his land journey in short bursts from Germany to the Turkey's west border - and extensively from thereon to his village close to Ankara - capital of Turkey. He begins his journey purchasing a second hand yellow Mercedes - possibly his first car - using his meager savings working as a laborer. Offering deep insight into the mind of a manual laborer Bayram (Ilyas Salman) making his first trip back home, resorting to flashbacks in highlighting Bayram's motivation and experiences from his childhood right up to the events leading to his first departure from Turkey to Germany.