An old abandoned ship becomes a functioning and ingeniously self-sufficient community for several poor familiesfrom the southern coasts of Iran. Captain Nemat, garbed in a white turban and long robes, runs a tight ship and is a benevolent dictator to the scores of poor, homeless, uneducated people who live on the overcrowded (and gradually sinking) tanker. The enterprising captain sells everything from medicine to cell phone calls to the inhabitants and iron parts and oil to waiting buyers ashore. As a marriage broker, he intervenes in his tenants’intimate lives. A sort of father figure to these nautical denizens, Captain Nemat refuses to evacuate the ship, despite orders from the ship’s owner and the official authorities.