Valeh is an anti-Shah activist in pre-revolutionary Iran. He is constantly on the move, aware that he is being monitored by the Savak, the Shah's secret police. Eventually he is captured and tortured in prison. to extract inform- ation about his organisation. Meanwhile his comrades try to coerce him into dying for the cause. Valeh simply wants to live and be re-united with his wife and new baby. The director based the film on his own experiences as a leftist Islamic radical who became disillusioned with political activism and extremism of any kind.