How could 6-year-old Fereshteh know that a massacre in a distant village would haunt and reshape her family for decades to come? Yet, in the volatility of 1955 Iran, she quickly discovers that violence against her religious community can erupt at any time. She learns, too, that it simmers closer at hand in the person of her maternal uncle.

DECADES LATER, Fereshteh is now a physician, and struggles to use her skills for the betterment of society despite persecution. When the Revolution erupts in 1979, old secrets are revealed and her sister is seized by Revolutionary Guards. The family, knowing that the Guards will soon be closing in on them as well, flee their home in Shiraz to live beneath the radar in the megacity of Tehran.

But when Fereshteh is personally and professionally confronted with domestic violence issues, the regime’s worsening human rights violations, and its merciless subjugation of women, she finds she can no longer stay on the sidelines. She makes choices that alter her life irrevocably.

THEN, IN 2009, the discovery of an appalling truth behind both the village massacre and her sister’s arrest converges with the brutal aftermath of the post-presidential election crackdown. Fereshteh’s decisions put her on a collision course with three powerful men, themselves forged in the fire of events beyond their control.