The name of this film refers to the psalms, songs, or meditations attributed to King David, who plays an important role in the Jewish faith; particularly among those staunchest of believers – such as old Shmuel. His son Eli is more lukewarm in his beliefs, but he still has a devoted adherent in his older grandson Menachem. When Eli leaves early one morning to go to work and mysteriously disappears after his car breaks down, Menachem is convinced that his grandfather is right in seeing the only hope in prayer. He pays no regard to the fact that his mother, a great deal less religious-minded, wants to come to terms with the shock in peace and refuses to pray together with her relatives each day. The adolescent boy listens so zealously to his grandfather’s theories and preaching about proper behaviour that with the help of his younger brother he begins putting the old man’s teachings on charity and the power of prayer into action, and is dumbfounded when it meets with incomprehension and even condemnation. A film about the different kinds of Judaism, from the militant, which readily has an answer to everything, through the tolerant, based more on the modern reality of life, to the secular attitude demonstrated by the mother.