A woman whose husband has been killed in WWII lives with her father-in-law in the desert. She cannot leave and go back to her family, because that would mean the end of hope that her husband, a heroic pilot, might return one day.
In the 1920s, in Turkmenistan, Qalli-bai makes the difficult decision to join the Basmachi, leaving behind his ailing wife in the care of their daughter, Dzhamal.
The film is about a Turkmen who defends his homeland from invasion. He is captured, tortured, and brainwashed into serving his homeland's conquerors. He is so completely turned that he kills his mother when she attempts to rescue him from captivity.
