: A gendarme named Balducci delivers an Arab prisoner to Daru, ordering the teacher to escort the man to police headquarters in a town 20 kilometers away. The prisoner is accused of killing his cousin in a family dispute.
The story follows , a schoolteacher living in a remote, desolate schoolhouse atop an Algerian plateau. The Guest
: Rather than decide for the prisoner, Daru takes him to a fork in the road. He provides food and money, pointing in one direction toward the police (trial and likely death) and in the other toward the desert (freedom with nomads). The Ending and Its Meaning : A gendarme named Balducci delivers an Arab
: Daru, disgusted by the crime but morally revolted by the idea of handing a man over to the colonial authorities, refuses the task. Balducci is insulted and leaves, but Daru is legally bound to the prisoner. : Rather than decide for the prisoner, Daru
: Daru leaves the decision to the prisoner, hoping to remain "innocent" through neutrality. However, looking back, he sees the prisoner walking voluntarily toward the town and certain imprisonment.