Set in the 1980s, the film is about a special friendship. Twelve-year-old Cengo and the eccentric, mute, and mentally disabled Xelilo – a man who lives in an old garage and shuffles around in front of the town hall every day – gradually become friends. The two spend more and more time together and with Cengo's friends when they unexpectedly find themselves caught up in the turmoil of the Turkish takeover, which radically changes their lives and those of their friends and families.