Ahmad is an exiled teacher living in a small poor village with mostly ethnic Baloch along the Iranian border with Afghanistan. He acquaints a family of illegal Hazara refugees who are fleeing an immediate threat from the Taliban’s rise to power. Soon after Ahmad begins to realize that prejudice and dogma are dictating all of their lives and his perspective on what is right and what is wrong changes drastically. He decides to save a young forbidden love but that decision can have dire consequences for everyone.

15-year-old Valderama, so called by the townsfolk for his long curly hair, is trying to obtain the ID card he’s never been able to have. He has no documentation, no family, and no official identity. One day, after a fateful encounter, he is forced to hastily get out of town. Now he has to fight for survival in the big city, in Tehran, where he comes across others who live on the margins of society.

16-year-old Hormoz is consoled by the prospect of hiring on at the strip mine as he is married off to 13-year-old Hendi. Alas, the young man finds the doors of opportunity shut tight. When Hendi becomes pregnant Hormoz enters into an ominous pact with a smuggler in order to ensure his family’s livelihood.