Freed after spending years in prison, an activist's homecoming turns into a dark affair as his disillusion clashes with his family's expectations. Demonstrating Chahine’s eclecticism, this is an elegant melodrama, exuberant musical, layered allegory, and profound portrait of personal and political disillusionment.

Laila is an abandoned girl who was raised in an orphanage. She works as a nurse, but her colleagues plot to expel her from the hospital. She meets a wealthy young man who wants to marry her, but his father refuses after he learns her secret. She tries to find her real parents.

Hemaidah is a Farmer who hates country life. He hates working in fields and taking care of the animals in his farm. Though unsatisfied with her, he marries Zebeidah, a woman in the same village.

Abdel Sabour was a thief and a smuggler known as The Beast to the people in one of the villages of upper Egypt; everyone was afraid of him, including the police. He enjoyed the protection of Redwan Pasha, who in turn used him during elections to eliminate his rivals. Officer Raouf Saleh was sent to the village with his wife and son with the assignment of arresting The Beast. However The Beast and his gang worked together from the beginning trying to dispose of the officer and his family in any way possible.

The devil appears to a poor family, incarnated in a wealthy man who offers them a large fortune. The life of excess spoils the family and breaks up their relationships. Eventually, the devil appears again, this time with the will to drag the family to hell.