[2] The Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) helped produce the film.

His parents are killed in a bombing raid on his home village and he escapes on a cargo truck to a very different region in the Caspian north of the country.

In a gesture of reciprocation and perhaps love, Bashu cares for Na'i when she falls ill, as she had done for him, crying for her and beating a drum in prayer.

Throughout the film, Bashu experiences post-traumatic stress disorder and sees visions of his dead family members, which cause him to wander off.

In the end, Na'i's husband (played by Parviz Poorhosseini) returns home with no money and missing an arm, having been forced to take on dangerous work that is never identified.

The film ends with the entire family, including children, running into the farm field, making loud noises together to scare away a troublesome boar.