Jaffa is a mixed Palestinian - Jewish seaside city near Tel Aviv, where Reuven Wolf (Moni Moshonov) has a garage for repairing cars. His wife Ossi (Ronit Elkabetz), a vain, self-centered woman, just makes everybody's life difficult.
The couple's daughter, Mali Wolf (Dana Ivgy), has secretly fallen in love with her childhood friend, the young Toufik (newcomer Mahmud Shalaby), a hard-working youth who has come as a helping hand to his Israeli-Palestinian father Hassan, a long-time mechanic working for Reuven. Meanwhile, Reuven's son Meir (Roy Assaf) resents working in the garage and further resents the presence of Palestinian Toufik, and bullies him around.
In a most tragic night, everybody's life is changed. Meir and his mother have a grave argument and she throws him out. Next morning, a crisis erupts between Meir and Toufik with the latter fatally injuring Meir in an unfortunate accident. This cancels the plan the already pregnant Mali and her lover Toufik had made to elope. Although she decides to have an abortion so as not to have a baby from her brother's killer, she eventually decides to keep the baby, concealing that the child is from Toufik, and the devastated Wolf family moves to Ramat Gan.
The story picks up after 9 years, when Toufik is released from jail and Mali Wolf is torn between allegiance to her family who has helped her raise the illegitimate child Shiran (Lili Ivgy) and her lover Toufik.
