Elif, the widow of a Turkish migrant worker in Germany, has been sentenced to six years in prison for killing her husband.
Her perception then changes as she encounters female solidarity which contrasts with her previous domestic life under patriarchal restrictions as a Muslim-Turkish wife.
Having escaped her restrictive life by killing her husband, Elif begins to view the prison as a kind of paradise where she is able to develop a new female identity.
While imprisoned, she learns to speak German, cuts her long hair, sheds her traditional headscarf, and gradually adopts the style of a Westernized woman who wears jeans and sneakers.
She fears that she will be sent back to Turkey for another murder trial or may get killed by her brother-in-law for revenge, so she attempts to commit suicide.