Story takes place in the late 1940's as Mahmoud, a famous writer, is suffering from writer's block. He begins to remember being 11-years-old, awkward and shy, on his family's lush country estate in Tehran. He is fascinated by his 14-year-old cousin, referred to as M. She is a tomboy, but is becoming a beauty and revels in the power she has over her smitten cousin. She was and is the muse that inspires the older Mahmoud's creative impulses, at once letting him revel in the remembrances of childhood and motivating his creativity.