Fifteen-year-old Taraneh, whose widowed father is in jail, refuses the unwanted attentions of carpet salesman Amir - until Amir's mother, at the insistence of his son, talks Taraneh into accepting Amir's marriage proposal. However, instead of a typical marriage, the union is in form of a temporary religious ceremony or "sigheh." Within four months the couple realize that they are incompatible, they divorce and Amir emigrates back to Germany. When Taraneh discovers that she is pregnant she decides against all advice and intense social pressure, to keep the baby.