Part I – The Father
A family at home: a father, a mother and a little child. The parents lovingly watch the sleeping child. Suddenly persecuted people fill the house. War, the world is on fire, and one of the people, mortally wounded, falls bleeding and dies by the child's bed. Soldiers and their Commander enter the room together with the young lover of the Commander who for the first time watches death and destruction. The Commander orders all those present to accompany the soldiers and suddenly sees the sleeping child. Gently he wakes the child and together with the soldiers soothes him by presenting a clown like circus act. The Commander's lover provokes the father in front of his child and eventually shoots the father and kills him. The Commander, in an act of grace, allows the mother and the child to run away yet they cannot properly bid farewell to the father's body.

Part II – The Mother
The mother and the child approach a ship in which they plan to travel across the border, yet the ship's Captain is not willing to allow them on board. The mother pleads, yet the Captain will hear none of it. Only when he is aroused by the mother, is he willing to allow them on board if the mother will sleep with him. The mother tries to sooth her child promising him that she will never leave him. At the last minute she accepts the Captain's terms and they are allowed to board the ship. The Captain takes the mother to his cabin and while he makes love to her a woman on deck tries to comfort the child and put him to sleep.

Part III – The Child
The ghost like ship finally arrives at a deserted island and its passengers yearning for a piece of dry land to step on after many months at sea. They are astonished to find out that they are not allowed to enter even this god forsaken island. One of the many crippled and poor inhabitants of the island is a crippled youth who writes poems about the refugee ships that arrive and leave the island. The island's Governor appears, accompanied by an entourage of reporters and photographers and in a public relations act is willing to grant admission to the island just to the child. The mother tries to convince the child to leave her and remain on the island but he refuses. He does not understand how his mother who promised never to leave him is suddenly willing to abandon him. He refuses to leave his mother and eventually is returned to her arms and sails back with her towards the unknown.

Part IV – The Messiah
Dead children in an open field are talking quietly, waiting for the resurrection of the dead. One of them heard that after the arrival of one other dead child, the Messiah will arrive. The mother enters and adds the dead body of her child to the other dead bodies, yet even in his death the child is not willing to let his mother leave him. A persecuted man arrives and the children take him for the Messiah, asking him to start resurrecting the dead children. The soldiers, their Commander and his lover enter and the Commander shoots the person the children take for the Messiah. The Commander takes the mother with him and she yields to his desires. One of the dead children explains to the newly arrived child who joined them his strong will to continue living will be slowly lost.