The twins Jeanne and Simon Marwan are stunned when they receive two letters from their late mother, Nawal, at the solicitor’s office. One letter is addressed to their father, whom they thought was dead, and the other is for their brother, whose existence they had never known. For Jeanne, these enigmatic letters explain her mother’s inexplicable silence in the final weeks of her life.

Jeanne decides to travel to the Middle East to find out more about her family history. Her brother joins her in this quest to uncover their family history. Together with the solicitor, they discover the tragic fate of their mother, a life marked as much by war and hatred as by the courage of an extraordinary woman.