Plot
Iman, a devout and honest lawyer, lives with his wife, Najmeh, and their two daughters, Rezvan and Sana. Iman has recently been appointed as an investigating judge in the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. The position provides him a higher salary and a larger apartment for his family, which his wife wants.
As the nationwide political protests against the authoritarian government unfold following the death of a young woman, Iman discovers that he was not hired to use his legal expertise to investigate cases. He is expected to approve judgments presented to him by his superiors without assessing the evidence, including death sentences, and he learns his predecessor was fired for refusing. The position requires Iman to remain anonymous. He is ordered to withhold information from friends and family who could be targeted as a means of pressuring him. The government issues Iman a handgun for his family's protection, but he is woefully unprepared to handle the gun and fails to properly store it in a secure compartment in the house.
When Sadaf, a good friend of Rezvan's, is shot in the face on the street during a demonstration against compulsory hijab, Najmeh and her daughters provide first aid in their apartment. They decide to keep the incident secret from Iman. A short time later, Sadaf is arrested. Najmeh, who is just as devout as Iman, advises her daughters to stay away from their revolutionary friends, putting a strain on the family.
As nationwide political protests intensify, Iman becomes mistrustful and paranoid. The protests force him to sign several hundred sentences a day. Meanwhile, Rezvan and Sana follow the protests in horror on social media. Rezvan eventually rebels against her father at dinner, causing Iman to berate her for her feminist sensibilities, which he dismisses as enemy propaganda.
At the same time, Iman's handgun mysteriously disappears and he becomes suspicious, believing that someone in his family has taken it and is lying to him, and he begins to distrust his wife and daughters. He forces both daughters and his wife to meet with a colleague, Alireza, for interrogation. Iman justifies this treatment by saying that he no longer feels safe in his own home since he can no longer trust his family. Iman's name, photo and address are eventually posted on social media. For their own protection, Iman decides to drive with his family to his childhood home in the mountains. Before he leaves, a colleague gives him a firearm for protection to make up for the one that has disappeared. During the car ride, the family encounters a couple who recognize Iman. A chase ensues, as Iman runs them off the road and threatens them. Inside the car, Sana reveals to Rezvan that she has taken the gun, and Rezvan takes it from her and stows it in the back seat.
Upon reaching his childhood home, Iman puts the entire family on trial. He interrogates and tries to force them to confess on a camcorder. Both the girls continue to deny involvement, so Najmeh takes the blame to protect them, but then, to try and protect her mother and sister, Rezvan says that she has the gun. However, when she takes Iman to retrieve it, she discovers that it is missing from the car. Iman locks Rezvan and Najmeh up in separate rooms in the basement, but Sana escapes with the gun. After setting a trap, she is able to lock Iman in a shed and free her sister and mother before he breaks out. Following a lengthy chase scene in the ruins of a town, Iman eventually catches Najmeh, and her screams lead Sana and Rezvan to them. Sana raises her gun at her father, but she hesitates to fire. When her father moves toward her, his second gun in his hand, she panics and shoots the ground beneath him. The ground collapses and Iman falls to his presumed death.
The film ends with real footage captured on mobile phones depicting women protesting in the streets of Tehran, hair uncovered, waving their headscarves in the air.
