After being denied permission to leave Iran, director Panahi takes up residence in a village near the Turkish border to remotely oversee the making of his new film. Despite being initially welcomed by the village community, he soon finds himself garnering anger from the locals after becoming a supposed witness to a forbidden love affair. Meanwhile, the production of his film, which tells the story of a couple attempting to flee the country, runs into serious trouble.

With a film-within-a-film structure, No Bears follows two tragic love stories while illuminating the limits of filmmaking caught within the conflict between art and oppression.

In 2010, Panahi was sentenced to six years in prison and was banned from working for 20 years due to the making of his film.