Said, a young Casablancan in his mid-20s, is in an erotically charged relationship with his stepmother (the father is absent). She is only a little older than he is, is very attached to him and thwarts his relationships with other women. Wishing to take up a new position as teacher in a distant village where he would be near his girlfriend, Said finds he can break free of his stepmother only by stealing away at night. In the village, Said meets a male colleague his own age; the villagers treat both of them as outsiders. One evening, the colleague makes a tender sexual advance that Said rebuffs firmly, but they remain friendly. Said, morose, sees his girlfriend and his stepmother in dreams and in his reverie. Although Said is still treated as an outsider, the villagers invite him but not his colleague to celebrate the Feast of the Sacrifice. Returning from the celebration, Said discovers that his colleague has hung himself. Depressed, Said falls ill and is cared for by a village girl who has returned from France where she received a nursing degree. Slowly they fall in love in part because, as she says, he is not 'macho.' Things come to a head as the stepmother appears and attempts to take Said back to Casablanca. However, he succeeds in fleeing with his new girlfriend who promises to support him in his search for his father.