The author has a spellbinding way of opening the novel with a first-person reflection from Zakaria, a young man who has lived 25 years in refugee camps. He has three things on his conscience, one of which will portend his future in a terrifying way. As the rest of the story unfolds, the reader is swept into life in Beirut, Egypt, and other areas of the Middle East, during a time of great sorrow, tragedy and war.