The film unfolds on two parallel planes. Scenes depicting the tense, uneasy routine of the border where the young protagonist Ata serves are interwoven with the less dangerous, yet still emotionally charged episodes from the life of the beautiful young Leila, his fiancée, who remains faithful to him despite receiving a proposal from a very successful young graduate student.

A fairy tale about a conceited young man and a young woman with a tyrannical step-mother, who must overcome magical trials in order to be together.