Journeying home to the Bulgarian hinterlands on the border of Turkey and Greece, Saïd seeks out a fuel-smuggling deal with a small-time crook, attracting the attention of Iliya, the local kingpin. Sensing danger, Saïd enlists the help of one-time romantic interest Veska, an archaeologist who years earlier had fallen in with the swindlers and operators of the post-Communist era. But when Saïd goes missing, Veska takes over the smuggling operation, deftly moving among the thunderous, posturing men and coming-face-to-face with the underworld that shaped her past.
