While the main story is about smuggling and a father Hidir (played by Yilmaz Güney) without a future fighting to give a future to his young son Yusuf (played by Hikmet Olgun), it is as much about the forces that push Hidir and his fellow villagers to smuggle and a telling of the plight of the poor and alienated group of people struggling to survive the only way they ever knew, from father to son.

Faith Akin states that "Hudutların Kanunu underlines the importance of education, which is the crucial element of socio-economical progress in third world countries.

The film repeatedly shows the inability of people to get past social structures and economics and almost pleads with the viewer to think about the plight of the villagers and give them a chance to let them grow as humans.

Yet in the end reality crashes in while duty, survival, and emotions take over nobility, and people revert to what they know, be it teacher, commander, smuggler, or profiteer.

[1] Due to these problems the end result is not a beautifully restored print and the sound fades and even cuts at times, yet the movie and story still work as do the film's continuity and dialogue.