This novel tells the story of two generations of women, Mariam and Laila, whose lives span the last thirty years in Afghanistan, from the Soviet invasion, to the post Taliban era. Mariam, the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, lives a life of poverty until she is wed, against her will, to a man who abuses her. Laila, born into a loving family, has her life torn apart by war, and reluctantly becomes the second wife to Mariam’s husband in order to have a father for her expected child.