Beshar, a famous singer, is summoned to perform at his country's dictator's birthday party. But on the way to the presidential palace, his car breaks down and he arrives late. He immediately faces the dictator's wrath, the first incident in a strange evening where the leader's tyranny will have dire consequences for some of the guests. Between forced cheerfulness and silent terror, everyone knows they are at the mercy of the mood of a grotesque host with unlimited power...

Baghdad Outside Baghdad is based on the Gilgamesh Sumerian legend, set in the first decades of the 20th century and told with a realistic and human hold. The story portraits six different stories that in different ways reflects the intellectual and cultural life in Iraq in that period, a period that fostered great poets and singers. The film presents six figures from this period through easy going as well as melancholic perspectives, while they live as strangers in their homeland and slowly move towards death. Gilgamesh is constantly present in the story, and as set in the historical epic portrayal, watchful and fearful of the death. Baghdad Outside Baghdad is outermost a historical portrait of Iraq.