Following a stint as a WWII fighter pilot, Belgian-born Edouard falls in love with an Indonesian woman, has a daughter with her and immigrates to Australia, all without the knowledge of his family back home. Years later, his love has passed away, and he's raising his daughter on his own. When his brother calls seeking help with his failing wool-processing company, Edouard agrees to temporarily return home to aid him.
This is a simple, straightforward tale about the rise and fall of human civilization that focuses solely on four characters: a farmer (Naseeruddin Shah), a weaver (Om Puri), a trader (M.K. Raina), and a woman (Shabana Azmi). At the beginning of the story, the workers in a decaying village are offered food and water if they work for the local lords. The farmer and the weaver refuse. The farmer grows food for them both, and the weaver creates textiles that uses to barter with an itinerant trader. One day a frightened, lonely woman arrives on the scene and she is taken in by the two men. She cooks and cleans, and before long becomes a source of contention. Meanwhile, the trader is observing these events from the sidelines.
Pierre, a young man of Brussels, has lost his job. Unbeknowst to Barbara, the woman he lives with, he has become a pickpocket to survive. He works in partnership with a young Tunisian immigrant he meets every Sunday in an abandoned bus where they share the loot of the week. One day, Pierre finds his accomplice dead in their hiding place. Pierre suddenly realizes that he does not know much about his dead friend. Taking possession of his identity papers, Pierre decides to go to Tunisia to find out who his friend actually was.
Delphine, Daniel and François, three friends with a passion for sailing, decide, at the end of an evening, to go on an adventure on the roads of northern France, to join their boat in Boulogne-sur-Mer.
When his father dies a young man has the choice to continue the farmwork of his old man who suffered because of the hard labour and all the regulations.
Four young Moroccans, like thousands of others, cross the sea illegally to work in Spain.
