When Shaikhon marries Dalal, a belly dancer, they are blessed with two kids. Shaikhon steals Dalal's money to buy the club where she works. Dalal gets back at him and reports him to the police who have him imprisoned. When he comes out of prison full of vengeance, his past ghosts still haunt him.

The film is an adaptation of a novel by Ismåeel Walieddin. The main character, Ahmad, leaves rural eastern Egypt for the city hoping to become economically self-sufficient, gets an apartment for his parents, and obtains a law degree. He and his family are refugees from a town occupied by the Israeli army, Ismaåilia. Ali, the owner of the Malatily Bathhouse, offers to let him stay there for free. Ahmad encounters several characters there, including Naåeema, a prostitute who he becomes obsessed with, and Raouf, a homosexual man.