Mahmut, a 40-year-old photographer living in Istanbul, is the local boy made good, but when his wife unexpectedly leaves him his life is thrown into crisis. Things are further complicated by the arrival of his eccentric cousin Yusuf, who has come to the city in search of work, and whose arrival throws into sharp relief the lonely and uneventful existence of Mahmut's life. It is from this that Nuri Bilge Ceylan weaves a masterful tale full of wit and pathos, disillusionment and hope.