The story is set in a fiery period at the end of the 19th century in a tense atmosphere charged with the premonitions of the First World War. After Assi Al-Zand's discharge from military service and his return to his village on the banks of the Orontes river, he is caught up in a series of conflicts and conspiracies involving the region's leading political figures.

Takes place twenty years after the events of “L’Auberge Espanole,” and follows Tom and Mia, the children of the film’s protagonists Xavier and Wendy, as they spend time in Athens.

In Syria in 2012 a mother ventures into a war zone to find a gas cylinder so she can prepare a meal for her son. She discovers that in the besieged area the people there have lost their shadows.