We pass between four separate
dramatic strands over the course of
several days: an American couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) traveling through Morocco in an effort to expunge some unmentioned grief; a Mexican housekeeper (Adriana Barraza) watching the couple's young children in San Diego while preparing for her son's wedding; a Tunisian shepherd (Driss Roukhe) who gives his two boys a rifle in order to ward off jackals; and a deaf - mute Japanese schoolgirl (Rinko Kikuchi) struggling with the temptations of her age and a sense of lingering
loss.