It Was Just an Accident

A man with a prosthetic leg is driving his car at night with his wife and daughter when he accidentally hits and kills a dog. To repair his car, he visits a nearby garage where Vahid, an ethnic Azerbaijani auto mechanic, recognizes him from the sound his prosthetic leg makes after Vahid speaks to his mother on the phone. The next day Vahid follows the man, kidnaps him, and attempts to bury him in the desert. He tells him that he recognized his voice and stumbling walk as that of Eghbal (nicknamed "peg leg"), his former tormentor in an Iranian prison. The man denies being Eghbal and begs Vahid not to kill him, saying that the scars on his leg are recent, unlike Eghbal's.

Doubting the man's identity, Vahid puts his unconscious body into the van and visits Salar at a bookshop. Salar refuses to help him identify the man but directs him to a woman named Shiva, a photographer in the middle of taking wedding photos of Goli and Ali, an engaged couple to be married the next day. Reluctant to help him, Shiva recognizes the smell of the man as that of Eghbal but is also unsure of his identity due to the fact that they were blindfolded during their torture/interrogations. Goli reveals that she was also tortured by Eghbal but cannot confirm his identity either, so they seek out the help of Hamid, Shiva's former partner, drugging their captive first and plugging his ears.

Hamid instantly identifies the man as Eghbal after touching his legs and insists on killing him right away, but Vahid and Shiva hold him back, as they wish to hear him testify first. In the midst of deliberation and debate, they wind up in the desert. A cellphone rings from the man's body. Vahid picks it up and hears the man's daughter, who claims that her pregnant mother has fainted. The group visit the man's house and drive his daughter with her mother to a hospital, where the mother gives birth to a son.

Hamid, Goli, and Ali grow frustrated and decide to leave Vahid and Shiva behind. The two then drive the man to a secluded location at night, tie him up to a tree, wake him up, and demand that he testify. The man first claims mistaken identity again, but then caves and acknowledges that he is Eghbal, asserting that his actions were justified for the good of the Iranian regime and that killing him would only make him a martyr. Vahid and Shiva recount the torment they experienced in detail to Eghbal, and tell him that his wife has given birth to a son. Shiva forcefully demands that Eghbal apologize and after some back-and-forth he tearfully says that he is sorry, claiming that he was only trying to make a living. Vahid then sets Eghbal free and drives away with Shiva.

Later, Vahid and his mother prepare the van for his sister. A white car, similar to Eghbal's car, is seen entering the area while Vahid enters the house to retrieve something. He suddenly stops in his tracks. A squeaky sound resembling Eghbal's prosthetic leg is heard, first slowly approaching, then slowly moving away.