In a typically mixed Baghdadi neighbourhood in 2006, a community of ordinary people try to live their everyday lives amidst the threat of unpredictable violence. At the heart of these intersecting stories we find Sara, a single mother and novelist, who regains her will to write after witnessing the forced exile of her Christian neighbour and best friend Sabiha. With the news of Saddam Hussein's sudden execution shortly before the New Year, Sara and her neighbours brace themselves for an uncertain future. Yet, like a miracle, each is able to sustain a fragile sense of hope.
The events revolve around a tyrannical ruling family that has seized the reins of power in the country, and a conflict arises between two brothers, one of whom inherited the presidency from his father, while the axis of the conflict centers around power and influence in the country without taking into account what's good for it or the citizens.
Even as bombs fall on Damascus, Mutaz refuses to flee to the uncertain life of a refugee. His wife, Hala, and daughter, Zeina, must make the choice whether to stay or leave.
After being fooled by her husband into leaving Egypt, Rouh finds herself at an ISIS den in Syria, whereupon she tries to escape but ends up at a camp for female ISIS fugitives, while her return to Egypt becomes a distant dream.
In the fifties, young Alice leaves her natal Swiss mountains for the sunny and vibrant shores of Beirut. She falls madly in love with Joseph, a quirky astrophysicist intent on sending the first Lebanese national into space. Alice quickly fits in among his relatives, but after years of bliss, the civil war threatens their Garden of Eden.
To be able to travel to Europe and find the love of his life, Sam Ali, a Syrian refugee, accepts to have his back tattooed by one of the most sulfurous contemporary artist; becoming that way a precious work of art.
Darina Al Joundi is a Lebanese-born stage actor. She became a French citizen after Prime Minister Manuel Valls read a review of her performance at the 2012 Avignon Festival and decided to speed up her application. She has promoted women's rights for the French government.