A comedy based on an idea by Abbas Kiarostami about four affluent middle-aged men on their way back from a skiing trip, whose attention is attracted by a tall, thin, isolated boulder in a lay-by on a mountain road. Just for fun they decide to try to roll it or at least shift it a little – apparently an easy task – but the whim soon turns into an obsession. When their primitive efforts fail to move it, they adopt increasingly sophisticated techniques. Human strength is seconded by a donkey requisitioned from a shepherd, modern technology is brought in...as the day goes by, more and more people get involved – passers-by, wives summoned from the town, friends. The task proves to be beyond their physical and ultimately even their mental powers. While the rock obdurately fails to move from its place, interpersonal relations start to corrode... The story, which unfolds in a single day, is notable for the refined simplicity characteristic of the best contemporary Iranian films. The realistic dialogue contrasts with the “timeless” mountain panorama and the mysterious inviolability of the rock, perhaps also a metaphor for patriarchal society as the central point of a political allegory.