Set in the 1960s, the story of the Akarsu family includes Ali, Cemile and their four children: Berrin, a law student, Aylin and Mete, high school students, and 5 year old Osman. Ali begins an affair with Caroline, a Dutch woman, which leads to the disintegration of the family.
A short while after his dominant wife abandons the wimpy and meek Hayati, who is a literary teacher in a patriarchal town, the police find an unrecognized female corpse by the lake. Hayati wants to state that the body belongs to his wife and to take the blame for the murder that someone else committed.
