London, just before Christmas: The strong-willed architect Amal - fleeing from her ex-husband - works at Café Abu Nawas, a popular meeting place for Iraqis in exile owned by a Kurdish activist. Her friends, the poet Taufiq and the IT specialist Muhanad, come by almost every day. Taufiq has taken care of his nephew Naseer since his brother's death.

The film shatters three central taboos of Arab society - godlessness, liberation of women, homosexuality - and opens up an intercultural debate.