Captain Ni'mat, a reservist from the Egyptian army defeated by the Israelis in 1967, finds himself ageing and idle, spending his days at a luxurious private club in Cairo with former comrades. One night, he has an exquisite, chilling dream: he sees pure beauty in the form of his Nubian valet. Awakened by these images, he slips into the cabin where the young man sleeps, and his monotonous existence is turned upside down.