Manar marries a wealthy man while she is in a relationship with Medhat. He sends her letters in the name of Nabila, her brother Sharaf's wife, but divorces her when he gets his hands on one of them. He suspects his paternity of Mervat and hands her over to a teacher who runs a pickpocket den.
When her stepfather tries to rape her, Amal kills him and flees. She finds refuge in the house of the fine artist Ahmed Khaled who falls for her, but his protégé, the sculptor Sherif, also falls for her and competes with Ahmed to win her favor.
Hanan works as a secretary for Shawkat, a businessman who trades in weapons. Despite being watched by the police and constant attacks from the journalist Samia, Shawkat steals Hanan from her fiancé, Ahmed, who works in an Arab country.
Set in 1881, a year before the start of British colonial rule, it is based on the true story of the Abd el-Rasuls, an Upper-Egyptian clan that had been robbing a cache of mummies they have discovered at tomb DB320 near the village of Kurna, and selling the artifacts on the black market.
Avant-garde appeal on behalf of and made by the adventurous leftist London cinema, The Other Cinema, using the facilities provided by the BBC community programme unit.