In the 1930s a brilliant young Lebanese takes himself to Montpellier to study away from his liberal father's revolutionary ambitions. When war breaks out Ossyane is drawn into the Resistance where he meets Clara, who is Jewish. Despite the obvious obstacles they marry and return to Haifa just as war breaks out between the new state of Israel and its Arab neighbours. Ossyane returns to Beirut to tend to his dying father but the border closes behind him.A touching love story by the 1993 Goncourt prize winner.