The film is an adaptation of the novel Samar Habib by Ismåeel Walieddin author of Female Homosexuality in the Middle East Histories and Representations The main character Ahmad leaves rural eastern Egypt for the city hoping to become economically selfsufficient gets an apartment for his parents and obtains a law degree He and his family are refugees from a town occupied by the Israeli army Ismaåilia Ali the owner of the Malatily Bathhouse offers to let him stay there for free Ahmad encounters several characters there including Naåeema a prostitute who he becomes obsessed with and Raouf a homosexual man