A man suffers from a heart attack so he sends his daughter to get medicine for him. After providing the medicine for the girl, the pharmacist discovers that he has unknowingly mixed a poisonous elixir. Reporting what happened to the police, the chief officer of Cairo starts an intriguing, full-fledged campaign to save the man before he takes the lethal medicine.

The devil appears to a poor family, incarnated in a wealthy man who offers them a large fortune. The life of excess spoils the family and breaks up their relationships. Eventually, the devil appears again, this time with the will to drag the family to hell.

埃及导演夏因的“亚历山大三部曲”之一，以二战期间的埃及亚历山大城为背景，人物众多，谋刺丘吉尔的恐怖分子,热爱戏剧的学生，流亡的犹太人等。该片于1979年获柏林银熊奖。夏因在1982年和1990年分别完成了另外两部曲《埃及故事》（tt0084042）和《永恒的亚历山大》（ tt0099858）。