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Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi's latest begins with a mysterious but troubling video of an impassioned teenager, Marziyeh (Marziyeh Rezaei), describing how her ambition to become an actor has been thwarted by her family, and pleading for support from Iranian actor Behnaz Jafari. The footage ends abruptly, with the defeated Marziyeh appearing to commit suicide. Shaken by the recording, Jafari (playing a fictionalized version of herself) abandons a film shoot and sets off to Marziyeh's village in the company of her friend Panahi (playing himself). Upon their arrival, they meet with Marziyeh's friends and apprehensive family, who remain unmoved in ostracizing their daughter for her choice of profession — a reaction rooted in the village's traditional mindset, and one that's forced an old silver-screen legend, Shahrazade, to live on the edge of town. The more Jafari and Panahi discover about Marziyeh, the more they learn about the community around her and the inescapable bond between tradition and destiny.
