Si-Amor, a carpet merchant from Kairouan, lives surrounded by his children, Ahmed, Férida and the eldest, whom he worships, Aisha. Their cousin Moncef returns from Paris, where he completed his law studies. Moncef and Aïcha fall in love and plan to get married. But Si Amor grants his daughter's hand to Salah, the son of his friend Si Béchir. Moncef, shot, runs away. Aisha gets married and withers away. Ahmed finds Moncef in a state of advanced dementia, mad with love and sorrow. One evening, the sweetheart comes to take Aisha away and keeps her tied up in a cave. A shepherd finds Aïcha and delivers her, but the young girl has caught cold and quickly succumbs to pneumonia. Moncef throws himself from the top of the minaret. Salah goes on a pilgrimage to mourn. On his return from Mecca two years later, a cripple, whose identity no one knows, guides him to Ahmed's new home. The cripple pursues Salah all over town and tries to scare him.