Francis Perry, a young development officer, shifts uncomfortably in a chair positioned in front of Mr. Lewis’ desk as he reads through his proposal. The walls of the office display Lewis’ diplomatic postings in places like Lagos and Dhaka. When he is done reading the proposal, he tells Perry he had hoped for something bigger and tells him he will show him what a strategic intervention looks like in person.

Lewis and Perry get in an armored Bronco and they drive from Sayhad to Parim. Perry conceals a camera he is carrying in his jacket pocket. Lewis reads a newspaper Perry has already read three times, and Perry wonders if the brilliant diplomat picked up on something he did not. The front page showcases the story of a father named Akram Abdullah who woke up a month ago to find his right arm, from the elbow down, turned into a dog’s paw. He asked his son to cut it off the next week so he could claim he lost it to an accident and the next day he woke up to find his left arm had met the same fate.

The car comes to a stop outside of a one-story cinder block house where Perry knocks on the door. Mrs. Abdullah answers the door and tears stream down her face as she takes the two diplomats to her husband. They find Mr. Abdullah sitting on the floor with his unsevered arm covered with a blanket. Lewis hands the man a cigarette who cries as he smokes. 

Lewis takes off the blanket and tells Mr. Abdullah that they will fix this mystery. When Mr. Abdullah says that he loves his daughter, Amirra, Lewis tells him he doesn’t need to be shouldering the result of her sins. Lewis tells the man that if action isn’t taken soon, Mrs. Abdullah and their neighbors could face a similar fate. Lewis instructs Perry to organize a rectification ceremony a week from the day and invite the press. 

Perry visits the Hadhramaut Public Security Forces where he talks with Major Ibn Ghassan about the case. The man tells him that Amirra's punishment is murder and he’s going to give it to a public prosecutor next week. When Perry asks him not to be hasty, Ghassan shows him the evidence from another case: the corpse of a teenage girl, Jasmine Malik, caked in dirt. Ghassan tells him that Malik was buried alive and that he’s not considering bail for the murderer or her family. 

Perry replies that fourteen witnesses had seen Malik talking with boys and that there is more evidence than just the body. He says that a new UN law that is in the process of being passed will consider factors of family honor, an idea Ghassan refutes with the phrase “murder is murder.” Perry threatens reduced foreign aid and Ghassan tells him to leave. In the parking lot, Perry finds two security guards kicking his driver for an overdue traffic infraction and they leave. 

In his small office, Perry prints out the speaking notes he wrote for Lewis to read during the ceremony. Lewis appears in the doorway and tells Perry he has been called away on duty and that Perry will have to read the address. Nervously, he rides in the car to Mr. Abdullah’s house where fifty people are waiting outside. A man mistakenly introduces him to the crowd as Mr. Lewis and Perry corrects him. During his speech, in which he pledges his mission to help the world, the audience ignores him and talks to their neighbors. When he concludes, no one claps. 

The front door opens and Mr. Abdullah appears, dragging Amirra with him. She clutches to the door, but her mother pries her fingers from the wood. Mr. Abdullah places her in the center of the people and someone hands Perry a stone. He tells Amirra he is sorry and aims the stone at her, but his throw misses and everyone laughs. Embarrassedly, he asks for another, which he is given. This time, he nails her in the forehead and suddenly the air fills with thrown stones as the crowd joins in. Perry knocks on the door of the Abdullah’s house and finds Mr. Abdullah’s arm to be healed. As the man cries, Perry consoles him as he had seen Lewis do. 

The next morning, when Lewis asks him how it went, Perry tells him the event got good press and Lewis congratulates him. He tells him that missing the first throw was genius, but Perry admits it was a mistake. Perry takes a newspaper clipping from the event and pins it up on his wall, replacing a photo of his mother that had previously resided there.