It's 1974. When Pedram receives the letter confirming his employment as an English teacher at a French Catholic school in Tabriz, his lifelong dream of becoming a teacher is realised. Leaving behind his beloved grandmother, the only surviving member of his family, seems at first to be the most difficult part of his journey from Tehran.
On the way to Tabriz he meets Kasra, a young Iranian man home on holiday from studying in Switzerland. The two get along well and Kasra helps Pedram to settle into Tabriz. They keep in touch after Kasra returns to Switzerland to continue his studies.
Pedram's passion for teaching and his sense of responsibility making him popular with students and colleagues alike. He takes a keen interest in his pupils' development, and a special bond develops between him and three students in particular, who he nicknames them Three Musketeers, whose aspirations and determination to succeed greatly impress him. He also discovers a new world among Tabriz's Armenian community. There he meets Armineh, a beautiful Armenian girl, and slowly they fall in love.
But soon, events in Iran take Pedram and the rest of the country into tumultuous times. Now he must learn how to survive and to come to terms with his desires under the Islamic Republic, following the 1979 revolution. The consequences for Pedram and his small circle of friends are terrifying.
His short-lived carefree life comes to an end when his fiancée Armineh vanishes after her father's arrest and execution by the Islamic regime. Pedram loses his job due to 'lack of revolutionary attitude'. He returns to Tehran in search of Armineh only to discover that she's left the country and settled in London. Then Kamran, one of Pedram's best friends, is executed by the Islamic regime. Pedram searches for the Three Musketeers, the three young men who symbolized the kind of society he wanted to live in. But he discovers that they were all killed in action during the Iraq—Iran war (1981).
The death of his grandmother marks the end of an era for Pedram, her death symbolising the death of the old Iran and leaving Pedram without any living relatives. In his absolute loneliness and solitude he re-evaluates his life and tries to come to terms with who he truly is. For the first time, he contemplates leaving the country in an attempt to find happiness and a new life. The plan leads him to the harsh life of coal heavers on the coast of the Persian Gulf.
In a final act of desperation, after months of hard labour under the scorching sun, he puts his escape plan into action. He stows away in the bowels of an Iranian coal bulk-carrier where he hides for twenty-three days. It eventually takes him to the shores of Queensland, Australia.
Once a free man, reunites with Kasra and he comes out as a gay man. Together, they build a new life, and Pedram finds his way back into the classroom teaching his favourite subject to the children of refugee families, who, like him, had to leave their home and country behind.
