The film's plot focuses on a prosecutor investigating a case involving the death of an activist journalist. The film's title nodes to "dawn raids," Egypt's security forces' preferred time and way to perform arrests and illegal detentions. The female activist is arrested and tortured before the 1952 revolution, tries to live a normal life and work as a journalist. The severe torture she was subjected to made her confess against her comrades, a trauma that caused her life to be full of fear and paranoia. After the 1967 defeat of the Arab armies, she continues to live in trauma as she works in politics.

Dawn Raider is one of the most critical films denouncing the Nasserist regime. While scenes of imprisonment and torture, which are typical in films that tackle such topics, are absent in this film, what is present is the long-lasting psychological toll that prison and torture have on political prisoners.