In the ruins of a silently sad city, under the hot summer sun of 1998 Kabul and the Taliban rule, various characters struggle to overcome a cruel reality marked by oppression and suffering. On the one hand, the young couple in love, Mohsen and Zunaira, dream of a better future, while, on the other hand, the despondent prison warden, Atiq, can only pray for his terminally-ill wife, Mussarat. Will the tireless swallows of Kabul ever return home?—Nick Riganas