In this political coming-of-age story set in Istanbul, director Yesim Ustaoglu bravely examines the persecution of Kurdish refugees in the region. A young Turkish man newly migrated from the village to the city takes a job that requires him to search for water leaks below the surface of the streets—an apt metaphor for the deterioration of justice within the urban milieu. Due to a strange turn of events, he is mistaken for a Kurd, imprisoned, and brutally punished. Upon his release he becomes an outcast of society, losing his job, his apartment, and his girlfriend. Ustaoglu employs both a realist documentary style to capture life in the city as well as a more contemplative approach in filming the picturesque landscapes outside its borders.