Before the Night portrays ordinary life under the enduring state of emergency, from the perspective of its three characters. Gulbîn, a painter living with her parents, is trying to make her own way in life, while obsessively painting a portrait of her mum with inspiration from Whistler's painting Mother. The mother models for her daughter while trying to insulate her house from the noise of the bombs to no avail. The father, whose health is deteriorating, tries to reimagine his war-stricken city with old photographs he took.