Sohrab returns to Iran after years abroad. Despite all the psychological pressures of his homecoming, he stays in a house in which he finds a young girl living in the shadows. After the death of her father and a failed romance, the girl (Arghavan) now lives with her mother. She has contracted a disease, which can only be cured by darkness and silence. When Sohrab sees her, she tries to bring her back to life. He sets out to film the daily lives of people but only in activities that inspire hope. It proves to be a difficult mission. Each filmed person faces the camera and asks her to come into the light, but Arghavan remains mired in her pain. She asks Sohrab to go film her hometown in western Iran where she last saw her father. There, he confides in her, facing the camera as he makes a confession.