Five years after Halabja was bombed with irakian biological and chemical weapons, American Kurd Diari returns home to establish an orphanage in the devastated town. He meets ten-year-old Jiyan, an orphaned girl whose scarred face is a living reminder of the horrifying attacks. A close relationship gradually develops between them, and Diari names his orphanage after Jiyan. During his visit to Halabja, Diari meets various locals, many of whom are still physically or psychologically marked by the effects of chemical weapons. Jiyan’s only living relative is among them, 12-year-old Sherko, whose family was killed by a cloud of poisonous gas. While Sherko dreams of marrying Jiyan one day, she in contrast longs to see the flowers she admires on the covers of magazines. In addition to work building the orphanage, Diari brings a spark of hope and happiness to Jiyan’s and Sherko’s lives. This optimistic period, however, only lasts a short while: when Diari leaves, the two orphans withdraw into their loneliness without any hope of a better future. A similar atmosphere and state of mind pervade Halabja. Diari departs promising to return quickly, but for now he is leaving a tearful Jiyan at the place he first met her – on a swing under a lone tree in the middle of the desert.