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A victim of the Iran-Iraq war struggles with a difficult dilemma when he must decide whether to claim his young daughter or leave her with the kind woman who raised her in this moving Iranian melodrama. The tale begins as the war rages around a small Iranian village. There Reza frantically searches for a car battery so he can rush his pregnant wife to a hospital. Unfortunately, they arrive too late and she dies soon after bearing Reza's daughter. Reza isn't there for the birth because he had to rush back to save his family. He takes a wrong turn and ends up in the midst of fighting where he is captured and placed in a POW camp. Meanwhile back at the hospital, Shokuh, the surgeon who oversaw the birth, decides to raise the poor infant herself when the fighting erupts around the hospital. Later she flees and sees a smoldering corpse and she figures that it is Reza. Nine years later, the father is finally released and goes in search of his daughter. He finds Shokuh and sees that Kimia, his daughter has been raised amidst wealth and safety. When Shokuh, a war widow, learns Reza's identity, she is naturally upset. Reza is upset too, for he can see that Kimia is happy. With such high stakes, both adults, wanting what's best for the child must struggle with their own desires and the painful realization that one of them must somehow live without Kimia.