Nar­in resides in a dilap­i­dat­ed cin­derblock house beside the Riv­er Tigris in 2014, a place of despair where her dai­ly life is steeped in vio­lence and suf­fer­ing. The mil­i­tant group sur­round­ing her has just suf­fered a major defeat, and their frus­tra­tion is pal­pa­ble. Among the chaos, Nar­in serves the com­man­ders and their fel­low mil­i­tants, per­form­ing menial tasks like scrub­bing pots while a pal­pa­ble sense of frus­tra­tion hangs in the air. Her thoughts are inter­rupt­ed by the abuse of two new­ly acquired Yazi­di women, who are sub­ject­ed to cru­el­ty, with one of the women cry­ing non­stop and the oth­er, an old­er woman, attempt­ing sui­cide in a des­per­ate bid to escape. The commander’s rage inten­si­fies, and his harsh pun­ish­ment of the old­er woman only deep­ens the sense of fear that per­me­ates the air. Nar­in, tasked with bring­ing tea, enters the room, only to be grabbed by a mil­i­tant and rough­ly spun around. In a swift act of inter­ven­tion, the com­man­der scolds the attack­er and then dis­miss­es Nar­in with a cold ges­ture, leav­ing her trem­bling and con­flict­ed.

Days lat­er, while Nar­in works in the kitchen, a con­ver­sa­tion between the com­man­der and his wife reveals a dis­turb­ing belief—the wife blames Nar­in for her husband’s mis­for­tune, claim­ing she is cursed and that her pres­ence is respon­si­ble for his impend­ing demise. Nar­in feels the weight of this hos­til­i­ty, yet she tries to keep her dis­tance from the commander’s wife, hop­ing to avoid any fur­ther con­flict. Despite her best efforts, the encoun­ters between them grow increas­ing­ly fre­quent and uncom­fort­able, fill­ing Nar­in with a sense of dread. The com­man­der’s wife’s accu­sa­tions only add to the unbear­able atmos­phere, leav­ing Nar­in unable to escape the loom­ing threat of vio­lence. Even­tu­al­ly, the com­man­der informs Nar­in that due to her so-called “bad luck,” she will be sold to a new own­er in Antep. Strick­en with hor­ror, Nar­in pleads with him for the chance to reunite with her friend Salma, but her request is bru­tal­ly denied. The thought of being sold to a new mas­ter, some­one who has a rep­u­ta­tion for abus­ing young girls, fills her with a deep sense of fear, and Nar­in sees no way out, know­ing that resis­tance would mean cer­tain pun­ish­ment.

In the midst of her despair, Nar­in comes across an ancient clay tablet, a small object that brings a fleet­ing moment of con­nec­tion to her past. She remem­bers her grand­moth­er telling her sto­ries about such arti­facts, and for a moment, she allows her­self to feel the com­fort of nos­tal­gia. But her moment of peace is shat­tered when the com­man­der dis­cov­ers her hold­ing the tablet. In a fit of rage, he vio­lent­ly strikes Nar­in, knock­ing her to the ground, and kicks her while she lies inca­pac­i­tat­ed, the pain a sharp con­trast to the fleet­ing hope she had found in the rel­ic. After regain­ing con­scious­ness, Nar­in finds her­self face-to-face with a doc­tor and the com­man­der, who now reveals his dark inten­tions. The com­man­der, see­ing an oppor­tu­ni­ty for prof­it, demands that Nar­in read the tablet, as it holds poten­tial val­ue in his ongo­ing scheme of loot­ing and sell­ing ancient antiq­ui­ties. Nar­in real­izes that these mil­i­tants are not just com­mit­ting violence—they are also prof­it­ing from the destruc­tion of his­tor­i­cal trea­sures, per­pet­u­at­ing a cycle of greed that will only con­tin­ue to destroy more lives.

The com­man­der presents her with a lapis lazuli tablet, demand­ing that she deci­pher its mean­ing for finan­cial gain. Nar­in, now over­whelmed by the cru­el­ty sur­round­ing her, refus­es to back down with­out a fight. In a rare moment of defi­ance, she extracts a promise from the com­man­der that Salma will be spared from harm. The faint hope of this promise is the only thing keep­ing her going, though she knows the like­li­hood of the com­man­der hon­or­ing his word is slim. As the real­i­ty of her sit­u­a­tion sinks in, Nar­in feels numb, her emo­tion­al walls thick­en­ing as she pre­pares for the inevitable. The con­stant threat of vio­lence, the abuse of pow­er, and the unimag­in­able cru­el­ty she faces dai­ly weigh heav­i­ly on her. Even in the face of this hor­ror, Nar­in under­stands that sur­vival is the only option, even if it means sac­ri­fic­ing parts of her­self along the way. She feels the sting of help­less­ness as she watch­es her friend suf­fer, know­ing that the com­man­der’s vicious­ness will leave them both trapped in a world that sees them as noth­ing more than objects to be used and dis­card­ed.