Anna and Farah, two young women from opposite corners of the world, are travelling together when they are abducted by renegades. The women are held capitve in a stone hut; their fate unknown. During their captivity they share their fears, but also personal stories, recounting their childhoods and families, joys and sorrows. A young servant becomes close to the women and helps them. They free themselves and flee into the wild and desolate Zagros mountains which is as treacherous as their captivity had been. They encounter danger at each turn and seek refuge in abandoned structures and caves. Wild beasts, tribesmen, land mines, corrupt border guards and desert conditions obstruct their escape. They are helped by nomadic shepherds and the young servant. The outlaws are also on their trail, and the women struggle to avoid being recaptured. During the ordeal in the Zagros they continue sharing tales which include the tragedies of their young lives – abandonment, imprisonment, torture and loss of loved ones. Finally, they are confronted by the renegades and, with the help of one of the outlaws, face their enemies. Using their wits and courage, will they be able to prevail? At what cost? For all their external differences, Anna and Farah discover a bond – commonalities, shared ideologies and beliefs. Superficially they are as different as night and day. Sisters beyond time, language, culture and religion. Like modern-day Scheherazades, through their storytelling, the women discover a universe where their outer worlds divide, but their inner worlds connect. The year was 1973; neither could know the upheavals that would soon engulf their part of the world. The arc of the story is based on the 12th century Persian allegory of the simorgh -- a mythical, benevolent, winged creature who helps the heroine, or hero, along the path.