Even though it is summer Sadiq goes to religious school four days a week to study the Quran; he and his friends find their teacher, Mr. Kassim, strict and intimidating, but when Sadiq finds out that Mr. Kassim has a injured shoulder he decides to volunteer to help with the gardening--and he convinces his friends to volunteer as well.

Sadiq's father is going on a business trip, but before he goes he tells Sadiq a story of the Desert Star, which fits in perfectly with Sadiq's third grade class field trip to the planetarium, and inspires Sadiq to build a simple telescope to study the stars when his father returns.