Content Warning: This section of the guide includes depictions of starvation, rape, abortion, pregnancy loss, wartime violence, and death.

Sonia, an actor in her late thirties who lives in London but has family in Isreal and Palestine, is interrogated and strip-searched at the airport before she is allowed to enter Israel. She is there to visit her sister Haneen, who lives in Haifa, a city in Israel. Before going to Haneen’s house, Sonia goes to the seaside city of Akka (Acre) and looks at the ocean.

Sonia thinks about her sister’s visit to London for Christmas earlier that year. Sonia felt they hadn’t spent enough time together during that visit, so her father suggested Sonia visit Haneen in Haifa. She left in June.

Sonia arrives at her sister’s apartment. Haneen tells her she has tickets to see a play called Al-Moharrij, the Jester, that evening.

Sonia describes her career as an actor. She had some middling success that kept her busy. Recently, she had been in a production of Chekhov’s The Seagull (1895), which had inspired her. She ended up having an affair with the director after the show’s run.

Later that evening, Haneen’s friend, Mariam Mansour, comes over to drive them to the play.