Mansour, a drug lord and an outlaw, is shown on an island in Upper Egypt, a part of the country that is abandoned by the state and its institutions. The film centers around the state's collaborations with drug lords in order to catch terrorists and achieve peace, which preserves the status quo. However, the former collaborator rebels; Mansour disputes his collaborations with the police, forcing him to abandon his love for Karima.

Prison is abundant in the film. In introducing the character of the drug lord, he pays a man a big sum of money, and vows to take care of his family, in order to go to jail. This introduces the type of loyalty the main character demands from his men. In another scene, in the police station where members of both disputing families, following a bloody night of clashes, are held separately. The scene shows the mentality of vendetta in Upper Egypt where individuals refuse to cooperate with the police in murder related investigations out of pride. This image has been abundant in Egyptian cinema of the stubborn violent upper Egyptian. This prison scene shows the power the police have over detainees, as one of the police officers threatens to kill all of the drug lord's family if he does not escalate.