The film opens with a scene of a man striding purposefully across a featureless desert. He stops, as if sensing the viewer, and briefly stares at the camera, before moving off again, enigmatically.

It quickly becomes apparent that the man has abandoned his family without warning. The film is about the consequences of this action on his two sons: 15-year-old Tahir (Ahidjo Mahamat Moussa) and eight-year-old Amine (Hamza Moctar Aguid). In a touching early scene, Amine is told by his mother that his father is "irresponsible". He looks the word up in a dictionary and discusses its meaning with his brother. Their interpretations of the ambiguous notion of responsibility, straddling accountability for actions and the parental role, go to the heart of the film.

DID YOU KNOW?
	At the end of each day of shooting, footage was sent 2,600 miles to Paris to be processed. The cast and crew then had to wait a few days to hear that all was well before continuing production.   The actor who plays the older boy was offered a selection of candidates for the younger one and made the choice based on who felt to him most like a brother.

As they search for their father the boys discover that he has not been seen at his workplace for more than two years. At an open-air cinema he seems to appear in the movie and again turns to the camera, this time to address the boys. The vision inspires them to steal the film reel and unspool it in search of the precious frames. They are caught, but their mother Achta (Zara Haroun) gets them off the hook with the police.

Sinking into depression, Achta finds herself unable to cope with the kids and sends them to a disciplinarian Koranic boarding school. Their ill-fated attempts to escape earn them a beating, and meanwhile Amine's asthma worsens. The only respite from suffering is provided by a deaf-mute girl (Mounira Khalil) who appears like a radiant mirage and becomes Tahir's lover.