In 16-year-old Abida's small Pakistani village there are age-old rules to live by and her family's honour to protect. And yet her spirit is defiant and she yearns to make a home with the man she loves. When the unthinkable happens Abida faces the same fate as other young girls who have chosen unacceptable alliances - certain public death. Fired by a fierce determination and aided by her devoted father Jamil she escapes to Lahore but then disappears. Jamil goes to Lahore in search of Abida - a city where the prejudices that dominate their village take on a new and horrifying form - and father and daughter are caught in a world from which they may never escape.