Intersecting stories--June's, Bedri's, Da'uud's, Lia's--each of which opens a different window on the city they all live in, mostly in parallel, but occasionally, delicately, touching and crossing one another. The young man Bedri experiences the terrible isolation brought about by an act of violence, while his father, Da'uud, casualty of a geopolitical conflict, driving a taxi, is witness to curious gestures of love and anger; Lia faces the sometimes unbridgeable chasms of family; and fierce June, ambivalent and passionate with her string of lovers, now in middle age discovers: "There is nothing universal or timeless about this love business. It is hard if you really want to do it right.".