Muzzafer returns from Istanbul to the small town in Anatolia, where he grew up and his parents and family still live. He plans to feature them in his new film, and brings with him a video camera with which he tests his elderly father's acting abilities. His father isn't very interested in his son's work, as he is preparing for a legal battle to save a wooded area from being confiscated by the government and the trees cut down. Muzzafer arranges for his cousin, Saffet, who has just failed his college entrance exams, to help in the filming. Saffet is thrilled, and gives up the factory job that had been so difficult for him to find. Muzzafer's nephew Ali is also invited to participate. The little boy has been promised a musical watch if he can keep a hen's egg unbroken in his pocket for 40 days. But although he claims to want to capture the life of the village, Muzzafer's obsession with his film makes him blind to the daily events that matter to the people that live there. Ceylan made the film to repent for his behaviour during the making of his 1998 film, Kasaba.