Set during the political upheaval following Ayatollah Khomeini's rise to power in Iran, Les Blair's gripping work tells the story of Shahin Mohamedi, a young Iranian woman studying in London. When the cheques her father sends from home are intercepted by the Khomeini government, she is threatened with repatriation by vicious British immigration officers. To remain in England she must be granted 'Leave To Remain'. Enter Jimmy Johnstone, an English wide-boy strapped for cash and willing to perform the paper marriage that will ensure Shahin's freedom. Jimmy wants to build on the relationship, but Shahin's heart is a thousand miles away with her old fiance.

Siamak is a thief who is working for Abbas Khalkoob. He lives with his gambler friend Tagfgdfzhi in a rented room. One day Siamak pickpocket a guy in the bus but Reza steals it from him. This leads these two to know each other and fall in love.

Hojjat kills a depraved man and his own wife, then heads south. With the help of a man named Rahman, he plans to cross the water border by boat at night, but the authorities pursue him. Hojjat escapes into the darkness of the night. Rahman kills the boatman—who is being taken to the station for interrogation by a sergeant—as well as the sergeant himself. Sergeant Mokhtar, the successor of the murdered sergeant and Hojjat’s uncle, persuades Hojjat not to cross the border. Hojjat then arranges to marry Maryam, the sergeant’s daughter...