Based on extensive research, Endişe depicts the conditions of cotton field workers in Southern Turkey. Yılmaz Güney was planning to direct this film, as well as to play the character Cevher. However, a few days after shooting began, he was arrested for murder. At the beginning of the film, shot by Güney, he can be seen among the workers on the truck. After the incident, he was replaced by actor Erkan Yücel, who gave an outstanding performance. The film was completed by Güney’s assistant Şerif Gören under Güney’s instruction.

Cevher and his brother-in-law Ramo work in the cotton fields along with their families with seasonal contracts. Cevher is worried about paying his blood money at the end of the cotton season, to avoid being killed. The working conditions are harsh and no one knows how much they will earn because the government is delaying the announcement of the base price of cotton. When the middle-aged foreman asks for his daughter Beyaz’s hand, Cevher is excited by the prospect of paying for the blood feud with her dowry. Meanwhile, anxious workers go on strike against their exploitative landlord. Cevher has no other option than to work under the bitter gaze of the other workers. His anxiety reaches a climax when Beyaz runs away with her co-worker Sino. And Cevher’s blood enemies are at his doorstep.

Endişe represents the plight of agricultural workers using a documentary style. Their only escape is through the peep-hole of the primitive kinetoscope from a travelling cinema which shows short strips from old films, including Güney’s own.