Sunny is an expat in Kabul who blissfully runs a coffee shop for other Americans in the country. When Yazmina, a pregnant young woman from a nearby village, is kidnapped and later abandoned near the coffee shop, Sunny instinctively comes to her aid. Candace, a wealthy American, also pitches in, while Isabel, a journalist, chronicles Yazmina's woe. Meanwhile, Halajan, a local mother, is reeling from a forbidden love affair

"Five-year-old Pari accompanies her mother on her library bus rounds for the first time, stopping at a village and a refugee camp so that girls there can exchange books and have a lesson in English. Talking with her mother as they drive, Pari learns that she is lucky that she can attend school the next year. Pari's mother had to learn in secret when it was forbidden to teach girls to read, and the young women the bus visits weekly have no other access...