Set in Lebanon under the Ottoman Empire, Kamila, a widowed mother, works as the housekeeper for Mustafa, a foreign poet, painter and political activist being held under house arrest. Mustafa is guarded by the soldier Halim, who secretly pines for Kamila. Kamila's young daughter, Almitra, has stopped talking due to her father's death, and has become a troublemaker who frequently steals from local merchants. Almitra has seagulls for her only friends; she even seems able to talk to them by making birdlike noises.
When Halim's pompous Sergeant arrives to tell Mustafa that he is now free, he must board a ship to his home country by day's end. The Sergeant escorts Mustafa to the ship, and Mustafa spends the time conversing with Kamila, Almitra and Halim, as well as with the townspeople, who regard him a hero. Mustafa's conversations, ranging in topics from freedom, parenthood and marriage, to working, eating, love, and good and evil are animated by the film's various directors in their own unique styles.
Once they reach the ship, the army imprisons Mustafa in a fortress instead of allowing him to board. The commanding officer labels Mustafa's writings as seditious, and demands that he retract his statements. Mustafa refuses, asserting that his writings are not seditious. Thus, the commanding officer sentences Mustafa to death by firing squad the next morning unless he disavows his writings. That evening, Kamila, Almitra and Halim try to help Mustafa escape.
Almitra sees Mustafa through his prison cell window, and talks for the first time since her father's death. Mustafa refuses to try to escape, giving his final animated poem, this time on death. His final wish is that his friends to return to the house and rescue all his paintings and writings before the army can destroy them. The next day, Mustafa once again refuses to renounce his writings as he is being led to the firing squad in the fortress's open yard. A large flock of seagulls surround him as he is being placed in position.
Over at the house, Kamila and Almitra retrieve all of Mustafa's writings and drawings right before the army arrives, and they hide in the woods. Suddenly, they hear loud gunfire and see the flock of seagulls flee the fortress but Almitra insists that Mustafa is all right. As she sees the flock circle around the now departing ship, Almitra sees Mustafa's spirit aboard the homebound ship.
