In the summer of 1955 – a few months before Morocco will achieve independence - 11-year-old Kamal is living in the Medina of Fez. Together with Aïcha and her fellow students from Qaraouiyine University, he discovers and joins in the fight for freedom. It is thus Kamal’s coming-of-age story, but also a vivid, passionate account of the rebirth of a nation, with its own culture and fierce dignity. Laraki was inspired by the memories of Moroccan resistance fighters who were part of the painful but essential struggle against colonialism, describing extraordinary acts of patriotism, the fight for women’s rights and the quest for freedom. At the same time, he describes his personal search for emancipation from the weight of his own past.