Bab el-Oued is a working class district of Algiers, shortly after the bloody riots of 1988. Boualem is a young worker in the district bakery. He works hard at night and sleeps during the day. One morning, he committed a "foolish" act which is going to put all the district in a high state of excitement. A group of young extremists headed by Saïd, set up in the search of the author of this "provocative" act with the intention of administrating him an exemplar punishment. Bab el-oued is the chronicle of a microcosmic district where contradictions, manipulations and exclusion melt in an electrical atmosphere of intolerance which is getting more and more intensive. Violence settles down and quickly developes when Yamina, Saïd's young sister is caught in meeting Boualem, she is in love with him in secret...