In the year 2014, Nar­in is forcibly tak­en from her home, packed into a truck among women and chil­dren, as they trav­el towards Mosul. Over­whelmed with anguish and fear, she expe­ri­ences an intense sense of help­less­ness and lone­li­ness. As the con­voy moves, mem­o­ries of her grand­moth­er’s teach­ings about dis­tin­guish­ing wild herbs sur­face; they keep her teth­ered to the famil­iar­i­ty of home amid uncer­tain­ty.

Nar­in reflects on the dual streams of good and evil with­in humans, a con­cept told in her grand­moth­er’s sto­ries. She recalls tales of malev­o­lent fig­ures who, despite their cru­el­ty, under­stood the nature of their actions. How­ev­er, the true hor­ror lies in the fanat­i­cal beliefs of those who com­mit atroc­i­ties while con­sid­er­ing them­selves holy. Nar­in strug­gles with the ques­tion of how any­one could please the Cre­ator by inflict­ing pain on His cre­ation. Her grand­moth­er’s teach­ings linger in her mind, urg­ing her to seek the light amidst despair, yet she feels trapped in dark­ness.

As the con­voy halts at a sig­nif­i­cant build­ing in Mosul, Nar­in begins to real­ize the extent of the chaos unfold­ing around her. Women and chil­dren from var­i­ous Yazi­di set­tle­ments are gath­ered, reveal­ing a coor­di­nat­ed cam­paign against their cul­ture and com­mu­ni­ty. With dread, she wit­ness­es bru­tal vio­lence inflict­ed by mil­i­tants who are often famil­iar faces from her own life.

Inside the build­ing, fear races through the room, filled with the cries and des­per­a­tion of cap­tives as mil­i­tants assert their pow­er. Nar­in is select­ed for trans­la­tion duties and is con­front­ed with accu­sa­tions of her peo­ple’s infi­deli­ty and her poten­tial fate as a ‘law­ful wife’ to mil­i­tants, invit­ing her to renounce her faith. In a moment of defi­ance, she cries out for her grand­moth­er, show­cas­ing her des­per­a­tion.

After being phys­i­cal­ly abused and dragged across the floor, Nar­in los­es con­scious­ness. Upon wak­ing, she learns of her cap­tiv­i­ty and must con­tend with her sur­round­ings, the threat, and the lack of time. Despite her fears, she reveals her young age of nine, mark­ing her as a tar­get for exploita­tion. The cap­tives endure fur­ther indig­ni­ties, refus­ing to con­form to the mil­i­tants’ expec­ta­tions.

As time pass­es in cap­tiv­i­ty, Nar­in meets Salma, a woman who once knew her grand­moth­er, and they find solace in shared mem­o­ries. How­ev­er, the grim real­i­ty of their sit­u­a­tion looms, with Salma hav­ing to nav­i­gate their har­row­ing exis­tence while pro­tect­ing Nar­in. Salma’s attempts to shield Nar­in from fur­ther harm demon­strate the bonds formed in their suf­fer­ing, but the omnipresent dan­ger of the commander’s demands con­tin­ues to threat­en their safe­ty and san­i­ty.