In the year 2018, an immi­nent flood­ing is about to com­mence by the Riv­er Tigris as the dam’s flood­gates are opened. The once bar­ren land­scape, likened to a fall­en crea­ture, is slow­ly being trans­formed as the reser­voir will even­tu­al­ly rise. Zaleekhah, filled with sor­row, reflects on the impend­ing sub­mer­sion of Cas­trum Kefa, an ancient walled city that will soon be lost beneath the water.

As Zaleekhah and her com­pan­ion, Nen, con­tem­plate their sur­round­ings, Zaleekhah shares her thoughts on soft-shelled tur­tles dis­placed by habi­tat destruc­tion. The con­ver­sa­tion shifts to her fam­i­ly, reveal­ing her deep-seat­ed con­cerns. Estranged from her uncle and aunt after mak­ing a tough choice about organ dona­tion for her friend Helen, Zaleekhah grap­ples with guilt. Despite their estrange­ment, she is deter­mined to sup­port Helen in find­ing anoth­er donor, under­scor­ing her sense of respon­si­bil­i­ty and com­mit­ment to her friend.

They make their way to an old ceme­tery where a girl named Nar­in sits alone, mourn­ing her ances­tors. Pur­chased from a deal­er tied to ISIS for $3,200, Nar­in embod­ies the plight of Yazi­di cap­tives. As Zaleekhah and Nen watch her from a dis­tance, they pon­der the emo­tion­al scars she bears and the dis­tant hope of recov­ery.

Nar­in, absorbed in her own thoughts, places flow­ers on her family’s graves. She feels the absence of her beloved Grand­ma Besma and remains uncer­tain about her father’s fate. Antic­i­pat­ing a reunion with her rel­a­tives in Ger­many, she also sens­es the pos­si­bil­i­ty of mov­ing to Lon­don with Zaleekhah and Nen, albeit unknow­ing­ly of the com­pli­ca­tions that lie ahead.

The women final­ly approach her, open­ing up a faint glim­mer of trust with­in Nar­in when she notices Zaleekhah’s wrist tat­too, rem­i­nis­cent of her grandma’s. The trio heads back to their hotel, where they come across a pecu­liar tomb­stone inscrip­tion that sparks a moment of intrigue.

The nar­ra­tive reflects on the tran­sient nature of time and cul­tur­al iden­ti­ty, as tomor­row will wit­ness the drown­ing of his­toric Mesopotamia, leav­ing only mem­o­ries. The cycle of water res­onates through its trans­for­ma­tion, insin­u­at­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of rebirth amidst loss, as a snowflake ulti­mate­ly falls upon an inno­cent child in Lon­don, sym­bol­iz­ing an eter­nal con­nec­tion to the rivers that end­less­ly flow.

Wait­ing ai