The film looks at the traumatic experiences of Iranian soldiers returning from the front, based on one specific example. In very powerful images the film tells the dramatic story of a soldier, the sergeant from the title, who returns now after eight years at war. He does not receive a hearty welcome. His family is alienated from him, his son Bahman doesn’t know him and he is so altered by the privations of war that he hardly knows himself. Manfully he tries to rebuild his life.Before the sergeant left for the front, he had bought a piece of ground. Now he demands it back, but the original owner repudiates the agreement and refuses to give him the land. With the aid of his retired commanding officer, the sergeant tries to get his way, but only ends up paying a heavy price. When he is at work in a remote forest with his little son, he is horribly maltreated. The cruelty of war, now copied down to scale as he is beaten up, is portrayed very realistically.His son manages to get help and save him from certain death. But that is not the end of his suffering.
