Mokhtar [Mansi Fahmi] was a learned man and a thinker who did not acknowledge the authority of women. He maintained a barrier in his relations with them, but then a woman named Ahlam conquered his heart and he changed his mind. His friend and student Rauf [Yehia Chahine] also loved Ahlam, who was living with Mokhtar at the time to escape the authority of her criminal father after Mokhtar had taken her in to help her recover from an attempted suicide. Mokhtar offered to marry her to protect her from her father, without knowing Rauf’s feelings about her and even though she did not love him. After they had an argument Ahlam ran away with Rauf but then went back to Mokhtar because she felt guilty. She discovered he had gone blind and become more violent and cruel than ever. He threatened to kill himself if she left him. Ahlam shot herself but survived; Mokhtar then sacrificed his love for her so she could marry Rauf.