Family patriarch Agha spends his days telling stories to his great-great-great-great grandson Ahmad. Agha's favourite story tells of a family curse that sheds light on Iran's political turmoil and foretells Ahmad's role in the country's future. There is certainly something plaguing Ahmad's family. At the age of ten Ahmad witnesses his father's suicide and consequently loses his voice. But this is only the beginning of his very long life: a life of loves and losses, family dramas, a doomed career in politics, and of incendiary poetry, all of which catch fire at the centre of the Revolution.
