Intention tells the story of two young men who come from completely different backgrounds and have very little in common at the beginning. The first one Janik is a womanizer and swindler; he used to have it all, but lost his fortune due to his adventurous spirit. The other one Arif is a poor and God-fearing man, who earns his living by making wooden toys for children. An accident brings them together in the market.
The film takes place in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku at the end of the 1980s. At this time, the Soviet Union was starting to fall apart, and with this came the start of a number of ethnic conflicts. Fariz and his family move into a Baku apartment block from war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh. Fariz's relations with his new neighbors are strained by his accusations that it was people like them who failed to support the Azeris in their conflict with ethnic Armenians. The only one who stands up to him is Alik, who acts as peacemaker between him and the older inhabitants of the building. Alik has no reservations about brandishing his gun in order to keep the peace. One day, the apartment managers want to evict a number of musicians who have been squatting in the basement. Alik gets involved, but soon discovers the situation is more complicated that he first believed.
