The film is set at the start of summer in a village in northern Turkey, when Lale (the youngest sister, through whose innocent eyes the film is seen) and her four sisters are spotted playing with boys whilst at the beach; and the supposed debauchery of their games causes a scandal with unintended consequences. Forbidden from leaving the house by their strict grandmother and uncle, they are forced to cook and do housework instead of going to school; then their grandmother starts to marry them off. But the sisters rebel in their own ways.