Tunisia, 1930s. Against the turbulent backdrop of a country in search of its identity, the destinies of two prominent families intertwine: the Ennaifer family, with its rigidly conservative and patriarchal mentality; and the Rassaas, open-minded and avowedly progressive. One terrible night in December 1935, the fortunes of both families are changed forever when Zbaida Ali Rassaa, the young wife of Mohsen Ennaifer, is accused of having a clandestine love affair with Tahar Haddad, an intellectual of humble origins known for his union activism and support for women's rights. The events of that fateful night are recounted by eleven different narrators, members of the two families, who recall them from different moments in time over a span of seventy years.--