Just before the year 2000, Abderrahmane Sissako, a Mauritanian filmmaker living in France, decides to return to Sokolo, a small village in Mali, to touch base with his father. "Dear Father, you'll be a little surprised, perhaps even worried, to receive this letter from me. Let me tell you right away that everything is fine and I hope that the same goes for you. Contrary to the message that I got Jiddou to transmit to you, an important change now means that I will soon be with you in Sokolo. The desire to film Sokolo, life, life on earth, the desire, also, to get away, particularly as it will soon be the year 2000 and nothing would have changed for the better, you know this better than I." Hence Sissako arrives in the village, changes clothes, and gets on a bicycle to wander in the little streets, squares, go to the post office, in the fields. It is there that he crosses paths with Nana, a young woman who is also just passing through. Something impalpable and playful forms between them while, in the village, life continues.