Ommi Traki is an elderly woman who is active and involved in everything, organizing everything in her family and neighborhood. Surrounding her are her husband Salah, who contentedly observes the results of his wife's interventions with a mocking air; her spoiled son Ali, a young man she still considers a child; the maid Zouzou; and others. The film is inspired by the famous Tunisian television series of the same name from the 1970s.

A young teacher arrives to take over a village school isolated in the shimmering desert. Legendary figures materialize out of wells and the desert itself, groups of children hurry through a labyrinth of underground corridors, and the teacher is whisked away to a mysterious rendezvous and never returns.

Souad falls in love with Fawzi, a poor young man whose mother works as a seamstress. Her wealthy neighbor, Mustafa, also loves her. Her father marries her off to Mustafa against her will in exchange for lifting the mortgage on his land. Mustafa learns about her love for Fawzi, who had left the country. Suad gives birth to a son and a daughter. Fawzi returns after 25 years, and Suad is diagnosed with a brain tumor.

In 1954, two young intellectuals, the ethnologist François and Ibrahim the lawyer, return to Tunisia after their studies in Paris. Brahim is engaged in the national independence movement. He is charged by the party to find his brother Beda, the resistants' leader, and to convince him to lay down his arms, a prerequisite for peaceful negotiations.