On the eve of her fortieth birthday Egyptian academic, Professor Hanaa, finds herself alone and unloved. For twenty years she has battled with an impossible love for an unattainable colleague, and has become outcast in a society where family and friends mean everything. Her life is organized into endless routines, and her emotions are hidden behind a fa ade of stern, but joyless professionalism. The fa ade begins to crumble, however, when her birthday...