Mounir Mekbek lives with his family in a small village in the heart of the Algerian countryside. Very proud and sure of himself, he has only one dream- to finally be appreciated by his fellow villagers. Screwing up his carefully maintained image is his headstrong, narcoleptic sister Rym who falls asleep anywhere and whom the village is convinced will end up a spinster. One evening, Mounir returns from town drunk and announces that he's found a suitor for his sister. The fake story snowballs and snowballs until the suitor morphs into a rich, blonde Australian. The village begins preparing for the wedding in earnest - but without a bridegroom in sight.

Mehdi is an algérien writer that fundamentalist violence has transformed into a potential target. How to live with fear when everything is fear. But also life. Facing Mehdi is Ania, an algerian-born Frenchwoman, the woman next door. She often appears at her window on the court. A disturbing vis-à-vis. Ania will unceasingly try to convert this man to the culture of life, to burning passion. By bringing him tea regularly, risking to often find the door closed...

Karima, a famous photographer who has been living in Paris for several years, is forced to return to Algiers after receiving a call from her mother informing her that her tyrannical father's health is rapidly declining. This forced return reawakens the scars and ghosts of a repressed past, especially when she learns that her brother has joined an armed group.

Bizerte, winter of 1991. The first Gulf War is brewing amid international tension. A Tunisian writer entrusts the typing of an autobiographical manuscript to a young girl, Chama, who is looking for work. Inspired by the book's content, young Chama feels the need to delve deeper into the events of the Bizerte War, especially since her father, a patriotic volunteer, lost his life there.

Paris, 1993. Selma, 17, lives in a bourgeois and secular Berber family. When she meets and is strongly attracted to Julien, a dashing young man, she realizes for the first time the heavy rules of her patriarchal family and how they affect her intimacy. As Islamism takes over her country of origin and her family crumbles, Selma discovers the power of her own desire. She must resist and fight. Through the strength of her people, she starts walking down the path of what it means to become a free woman.