Shortly after Muzamil was born, the village's holy man predicts that he will die at age 20. Muzamil's father can't stand the curse and leaves home. Sakina raises her son as a single mother, overly protective. One day, Muzamil turns 19.

When searching for a blessing on the day of her firstborn child's naming ceremony, Sakina (Islam Mubarak) is instead given a curse. A travelling sheikh prophecies that her son, Muzamil (played first by Moatasem Rashed then as a teen by Mustafa Shehata), would die at the age of 20. In what is now a coming-of-death tale, a devastated Sakina is sentenced to mourn her son while he lives - an endeavor her husband could not stand to bear. Growing up under the constant loom of death, Muzamil becomes increasingly curious about what it means to live beyond his mother's confines. Encouraged by local elders, the overprotective Sakina relents and allows her son to study the Quran with the other children his age. And in this newly found freedom, Muzamil finds friends, enemies, love, and tempters, though what he truly seeks is a sense of the present and a chance at the future.—Toronto International Film Festival

Sudan, province of Aljazira, nowadays. Shortly after Muzamil was born, a prophecy by the holy man of the village predicts that he will die at age 20. Muzamil's father cannot stand the curse and leaves home. Sakina raises her son as a single mother, with overly protection. One day, Muzamil turns 19.—yusufpiskin