With the background of Middle Eastern music, the film offers shots of century-old architecture and travels through Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz. A broad range of Jewish Iranians are interviewed, from an old woman in a hospital to a bright computer science student.
Young, Jewish, and Left combines queer culture, Jewish-Arab history, secular Yiddishkeit, anti-racist analysis, and religious traditions into a multi-layered picture of the circa 2006 Jewish Left. Personal experiences from many of the era's leading Jewish activists frame Jewish identity in what it the official website says is "a fresh and constructive take on race, spirituality, Zionism, queerness, resistance, justice, and liberation."
The film opens with footage of a NASA rocket launch, an animation of our solar system, and a quote from Deuteronomy 30:19 about choosing between life and death (illustrated with images of the planet Earth as seen from space, contrasted with an exploding atom bomb). This is followed by a statement that humanity has not been caring for the Earth properly according to Jewish teachings. Next comes a section about ancient Jewish texts and "sacred words" that provide "specific instructions on how to be custodians of the world in which we live." Throughout the film, quotes from the Torah, illustrated with closeups of Hebrew scrolls, Jews praying, and nature scenes, will be contrasted with the various environmental threats facing humanity today.