In the 70s, a communist-leaning movement was outlawed, and its activists were detained. In order to be freed, the authorities asked the detainees to apologize to the president. They declined, but one changes his mind.
Youssef, a nobody with tons of debts and nothing in his life, is offered a job by his uncle to oversee the construction of an elementary school in the far away rural town of Ragouj. He learns the good and bad of his new home and its people.