In rural Afghanistan, people are storytellers who make up and tell each other tales of mystery and imagination to explain the world in which they live. The shepherd children own the mountains and, although no adults are around, they know the rules; they know that boys and girls are not allowed to be together. The boys practice with their slings to fight wolves. The girls smoke secretly and play at getting married, dreaming of finding a husband soon. They gossip about Sediqa; she’s eleven years old and an outsider. The girls think she is cursed. Qodrat, also eleven years old, becomes the subject of gossip when his mother remarries an old man with two wives. Qodrat roams alone in the most isolated parts of the mountains, where he meets Sediqa and they become friends.

Trico is an enthusiastic sheep who loves to share new objects and ideas with the rest of the flock. This causes ruckus in the mountain pastures, which all inevitably end up at Wanda’s expense, a tough ewe whose job is to keep the sheep safe. Not a small feat, especially when Wolf is always lurking, waiting to make the most of this newfound chaos.

What is the gap between ideals and reality? How much more do we need to sacrifice to complete our dreams? And is it a saint who brings to the world a good saint; or is it just a werewolf thief in sheep’s clothing?

The two pigs building houses of hay and sticks scoff at their brother, building the brick house. But when the wolf comes around and blows their houses down (after trickery like dressing as a foundling sheep fails), they run to their brother’s house. And throughout, they sing the classic song, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”.