Successful writer Liz comes to look for her daughter Rachel on a gorgeous and immaculate beach in the Sinai. After a conflict with her mother, Rachel has taken off and isn’t interested in smoothing things over quite yet. Despite this Liz decides to remain. Rachel introduces her to her boyfriend Mustafa. After finding out that Liz is a writer, he decides to tell her a love story he witnessed as a boy. At the time, the young, beautiful and freethinking Leila, his childhood love, was staying at the beach with friends. One day a Bedouin named Najim arrives from deep in the desert accompanied by his father and representatives of the tribe. Najim and Leila fall in love, and the girl decides to leave with him. On the way to Najim’s village Leila witnesses the circumcision of one of the Bedouin girls. On top of that, Najim’s tribe doesn’t want to allow the couple to be married, and when Najim insists, his father disowns him and banishes both him and Leila. But the tribe sends Abu Ahmad to find them in order to force Najim to have Leila “purified.” The tale causes Liz to become upset and emotional, and Rachel gradually learns a surprising and devastating fact about her mother’s life.