In the city of Beirut, twelve-year-old Zain El
Hajj is getting his medical exam before being sent to jail. An undocumented Ethiopian woman, Tigest,
is also being arrested together with other call girls that worked for the same madam. Both of them
are being taken to a courthouse, where dozens of new reporters are waiting at the entrance.
Once he arrives at the courtroom, Zain sits with his lawyer, Nadine, while watching his parents,
Souad and Selim, sit on the opposite side. Zain is serving a five-year prison sentence because
he stabbed a man, but that's not the reason why they're here today. After Nadine explains Zain's
age is the doctor's best guess because he doesn't have papers, the judge asks him what he wants,
to which Zain says he wants to sue his parents for having given him life. Then Zain begins
telling his story. He lives with his parents and his numerous siblings in the Beirut slums,
but he doesn't go to school. Instead, he helps his family earn some money through various schemes,
like using forged prescriptions to buy pain medication. They crush the pills into a powder
and soak them into clothes, which then they take to Zain's brother who is in prison so he can sell
them to addicts. Zain also works as delivery boy for Assad, who is both the family's landlord and
the owner of the local convenience store. Assad is always giving him things for and asking about
Zain's sister Sahar, but he throws them away and never gives them to her to protect her from Assad.
At night, he has to share a small mattress on the floor with his siblings, while having to hear
his parents getting busy behind a curtain. One morning, he finds drops of blood on the sheets,
and later, while selling juice on the streets with his siblings, he notices Sahar's shorts
have bloodstains on them as well. He takes her away to the bathroom of an abandoned building
and while washing her panties, he orders her not to tell anyone about her period, otherwise they'll
give her away to Assad. He gives her his shirt to put on her underwear for now, and later at work,
he steals some pads for her. Sahar throws them away in the trash after using them and Zain
scolds her for it, promising he'll show her a way to hide them. In the evening, the kids sell juice
on the streets too, and Zain makes sure to keep an eye on his sister by confronting every man
that tries to flirt with her. During dinner, Souad argues with Selim because she does want Zain to
go to school - they give their students supplies there, and he could still work in the afternoon,
but Selim is scared this would upset Assad, so he just says he'll think about it. Zain continues to
work every day, dealing with all kinds of issues like rain and men that make a pass at him.
One day, when he returns home, he sees there is a bunch of chickens in the apartment,
notices Sahar is wearing a dress and make-up, and Assad is talking to his dad.
He quickly guesses they're about to trade his sister for a dowry and wants to make a scene,
but his mother forbids it and sends him to the bedroom. When Sahar comes to sit with him, he
tries rubbing the make-up off her face, but it's too late: the adults have already sealed the deal.
The next morning, Zain puts some clothes in a bag and tells Sahar to get ready for when
he comes back. First, he stops by Assad's shop and steals some supplies by pretending to be
taking out the trash. Then he checks the price of bus tickets, getting the driver to accept
to only charge for one if he makes his sister sit on Zain's lap. He rushes back home to pick
Sahar up only to find out they're taking her to give her to Assad - Zain tries to stop them,
but Souad slaps him away as Selim picks Sahar up and takes her away on his bike.
Furious, Zain begins kicking the door and Souad wants to punish him for it, so he runs away too.
Back in the present, Selim explains to the judge that they gave Sahar away to give her a chance to
have a better life and he never intended things to end this way - he's only been doing what he's
been taught because a man without children isn't a real man. Then Zain's story continues. After Sahar
is taken away, he gets on the bus alone. At one stop, a strange man wearing a Spider-man costume
sits next to him, Mr. Harout. Zain talks to him during the ride, wondering why the symbol on his
chest is a roach and not a spider and decides to get off with him when he notices his stop is
an amusement park. Since it's early in the day, the place is empty, so Zain explores the area
and rides the ferris wheel before finding a spot to sleep on. The following morning,
after eating the last food he's got left, he fools around with the different games and pulls a prank
that makes the cleaning lady, Tigest, laugh. When he finds her, she buys him some food while he
asks about potential jobs in the park, but she doesn't know of any. Zain begins asking around
to every stand owner if they need a hand, to no avail, making Tigest feel bad for him. Later,
when she's on bathroom duty, she tells people that one of the stalls is out of service, but actually,
that's where she hides her baby, Yonas, because she has nobody to leave him with while she works.
When it's time to go home, she hides Yonas in her shopping trolley and notices Zain is following her
while asking for food. Tigest takes pity on him and takes him home with her, giving him a bath
and sharing her food with him before giving him a spot on the bed, from where Zain watches her
hide some money inside a pipe. The next morning, Tigest gives Zain instructions on how to take care
of Yonas while she's at work and leaves after drawing a beauty mark on her face to match her
fake permit, which is about to expire soon and she doesn't have enough money to get a new one yet.
Zain and Yonas get along wonderfully, and when Tigest returns home in the evening, she brings
with her some leftover cake she stole from work by making it look like she was taking out the trash.
They celebrate Yonas' first year while eating it, and Zain tells her a bit about his family.
Back in the present, Tigest is talking to the judge, who reminds her she's in cuffs because
she doesn't have a residency permit. Tigest also tells a bit of her own story: she worked for a
madam for six years and left when she fell in love and got pregnant - she couldn't allow the cops to
find the baby and take him away from her. Tigest also admits that yes, she had been nervous about
leaving her baby with a stranger the first few days, but Zain proved to be trustworthy, and she
would've never thought he could kill someone. She doesn't blame Zain for anything for what
happened because she knows what Aspro is like. The tale continues with Tigest visiting Aspro,
the man in charge of forging permits. He wants to charge her 1500 for it, but she can't afford it,
so after some discussion, he decides to give her a small discount and seven days for her to finish
getting the money she's missing. He also offers to buy her baby to send it to a better family,
which she obviously refuses. At home, Zain continues to take care of Yonas, even managing
to find a way to open a hatch to watch the neighbor's tv while Tigest tries to find a way
to get the money she needs. She asks for a second job everywhere around town and even goes as far as
visiting Yonas' father, who doesn't want anything to do with them. In the end, she has no choice but
to sell her hair. After putting this money with the pile from the pipe, Tigest goes to a public
phone to call her mother and apologize because she won't be able to send her money this month,
saying it's because she's taking English lessons and she can't ask her madam for more. While she's
away, Zain checks the pipe, but he discovers Tigest took the money with her. The two boys
fall asleep together, but the next morning, they discover Tigest hasn't returned home. Zain takes
Yonas with him on the bus to the amusement park to ask about her, but nobody has seen her there
either. One of the employees tells him she may've gone to see Aspro, so Zain walks all the way there
with Yonas in his arms. Aspro hasn't seen Tigest either and tries to contact her on the phone, but
she won't answer, so he buys the kids something to eat before they leave. They eat outside
the market, where Zain meets Maysoun, a Syrian refugee who is also trying her best to survive.
Zain gives her fake names and tells her Yonas is his brother, then they chitchat for a while.
When night falls, the two boys fall asleep on a random house's porch, unaware that all this time,
Tigest had been under arrest together with other illegal immigrants. She doesn't tell the cops
about her son so they don't take him away too, and when she gets a chance to go to the bathroom,
she squeezes her chest to release as much milk as possible and flush it in the toilet not to be
discovered as a mother. The following day, the boys return home. Zain buys some food with the
only money he has left and steals a baby bottle from a neighbor's kid, although he has trouble
making Yonas drink from it. Later, when he checks out the fridge, he finds all leftovers have gone
bad but there is still some ice left, so he serves it on a plate with sugar and shares it with Yonas.
As days pass, things begin getting desperate. He manages to steal some fish,
but the chicken he tries to catch escapes, and the house is running out of water. Zain decides
to steal the neighbor's kid's skate and puts a big pot with Yonas inside on it, then ties a bunch of
smaller pots around to drag the skate around town, trying to sell them. Maysoun finds him and teases
him for it, but Zain takes the chance to ask her about the food aid she mentioned last time.
Sadly, Maysoun can't take him with her because it's only for Syrian refugees, but she does give
her some important information: she'll be leaving for Sweden soon because Aspro can help refugees
cross borders, but it'll cost money. Zain begins practicing a Syrian accent and makes up a story
about having lost his ration card to get some help from the food aid organization, so now he can feed
and change Yonas' diapers for a few more days. Next, he decides that since the house doesn't have
water anyway, he can sell the tank, so he takes it to Aspro, who does accept buying it. After
confirming he can take them to any country they want as long as they pay, Aspro offers to buy the
baby to Zain too, but Zain lies and says Tigest is back so he'll have to ask her first. Afterward,
they go to a carwash and convince the employees to let them wash themselves and their clothes there.
When they return home, Zain hangs the clothes to let them dry and suddenly gets quite a surprise
when he discovers there are still some old fake prescriptions in his pockets. He doesn't
hesitate and uses them to buy pain killers, which he then crushes and mixes with water he's brought
himself from the river. When night falls, he goes out to town and sells shots of this mix,
which is well received by the residents, although sometimes he finds trouble when men don't want
a kid in the area. All the money he makes, he hides it in the pipe like Taigest used to do.
One day, he returns home to find his things out in the street and a lock on the door.
The neighbor tells him the landlord put it there since nobody has been paying rent, and no matter
how much Zain hits the lock with a rock, it won't break. This means he's lost all his money because
it's stuck inside in the pipe. Losing all hope and feeling overwhelmed by Yonas' crying, Zain
tries to abandon the baby in the middle of a busy city street. Yonas won't listen to him, though,
and won't stay on his spot, he keeps trying to follow him and Zain keeps on putting him back.
After a few failed tries, Zain ties him with a rope, but after just a few seconds of leaving,
he feels bad for the baby and brings him back with him. Crying his heart out,
Zain goes to see Aspro and gives him Yonas in exchange for being taken to Sweden - this way,
they both can have a chance to find a better life. Aspro finds a family for Yonas and sends
Zain to a hairdresser friend of his to make him look decent for the fake ID, he also asks him to
go home and get some kind of papers that say who he is so Aspro can use it to forge the new ones.
After getting his hair cut, Zain returns to his old house. Ignoring his sleeping father, he starts
rummaging through the drawers but finds nothing with his identity on it. His mother arrives then
and, shocked to see him, slaps him for having left - she also finds the idea of papers laughable and
wakes Selim up so he can see this. Selim is furious to see Zain, especially when he hears
his request, so after flipping the table, he shows him he only has two kinds of official paperwork:
an eviction, and a note from a hospital. As his father shakes him around and demands him to leave,
Zain asks who went to the hospital, and their lack of answers together with their tears tells
him all he needs to know: Sahar is dead, and he knows exactly whom to blame. Souad and Selim
can't stop Zain from grabbing a knife and running out of the house to find Assad and stab him for
what he did to his sister. Zain gets arrested and, after the doctor's examination, he's sent
to the local prison, where the cells are filled with criminal grown men and illegal immigrants.
Back to the present, the next person to testify is Assad, who is in a wheelchair. The judge doesn't
understand how he could marry and impregnate an eleven-year-old girl, and Assad tells him that's
how it's always been done in the neighborhood, and many grandmothers in town that gave birth at that
age are still around. He didn't notice anything was wrong until one day Sahar started bleeding,
so he took her to the hospital, where she wasn't admitted because she lacked papers,
so she died at the hospital door. We return to the flashback one last time to see Zain and Tigest are
being held at the same prison but they don't know that yet. A group of musicians comes to visit them
that night to try to distract them with a bit of cheer, and while many prisoners appreciate
it and even dance, Tigest and Zain don't find it fun. Sometime later, when the guards call out
Zain's name for his transfer, Tigest hears it and comes to the bars to see the boy being taken away,
but she has a break-down when she realizes Yonas isn't with him. At the juvenile detention center,
Zain is visited by his mother, who has brought him some candy and tells him she's pregnant,
also mentioning the baby will be called Sahar. Disgusted by Souad's lack of remorse,
Zain tells her not to visit him anymore and throws the candy in the trash before leaving.
Later at night, his cellmates are watching a show that helps kids in need,
so Zain calls in and tells the host he's tired of parents that neglect their kids, so he wants
to sue his. His cellmates celebrate his bravery by yelling to let boys in other cells about the show,
which soon causes the entire prison to chant Zain's name. The next morning, Nadine comes to see
Zain: she heard his call on tv and wants to help. This takes us back to the present, where Zain says
that the baby in his mother's belly will also live an awful life just like his. When the judge
asks him what he wants from his parents, Zain requests for them not to have children ever again.
After the case is closed, the police raid Aspro's warehouse and frees all the people he had hidden
in there, including Yonas, who is taken back to town so he can reunite with Tigest at the airport.
Meanwhile, Zain is asked to smile for a picture to be used on his first ID ever.