A group of unemployed teachers cross the mountains of Iranian Kurdistan carrying some great big cloth blackboards on their backs. They are looking for students to teach, Reeboir meets a band of young smugglers who work between Iran and Iraq and joins them to try and teach them to read and write. This proves a near impossible undertaking as the boys are in a hurry and must hide from the border guards. While escaping, one of the youths falls into a gully and breaks his leg and Reeboir uses part of his blackboard to bind the wound. Said has similar difficulties when he meets up with a group of old refugees who are trying to return to their home village Halabchech to die in peace. Amongst their number is Halaleh, a widow with a small child. Said and Halaleh marry and Said's dowry is his one possession: his blackboard. Once they reach the border, however, Said feels unable to leave Iran, so he releases Halaleh from her marriage vows and leaves her with the blackboard.