Paris 1999, the young French woman Yasmine, whose parent immigrated from Algria, has not heard of her financé Rashid for a long time, who had decided return to Algeria for his military service. Worried she starts searching for him - in Algeria. A country whose language she can not speak. She learns that, alledgely, he has been killed in an ambush by islamist fanatics. She refuse to believe this and continues her search that leads her deeper and deeper into Algeria, to places that are not safe to travel to and this way experiences the deep contradictions of a torn country. She is observed, prosecutted, taken hostage, but nonetheless she manages to cross the country. Eventually she strands in a strange hotel in the middle of the desert.