Memo is a nine-year-old boy who lives in Turkey with his mother and little sister, while his father works in a Netherlands seaport. When war looms near his family home, Memo's father moves the family to be with him in the Netherlands. Memo is unhappy at having to leave his village, his best friend, Mustafa, and his job as a mail boy. Once installed in his father's basement flat, Memo begins his own protest at being removed from his home by refusing to speak.