In an offworld settlement community on Mars, gay Palestinian man drinks excessively at a bar until he passes out. The Offworld Settlement Palmach (OSPs) beat him up outside the bar, which is the only place in the Arab Quarter with a liquor license. The OSPs tell the man that his brother has come to Mars and is looking for him. The man continues drinking until he passes out again. The next morning, the man feels miserable. Farrah, the owner of the bar and his ex-lover, tells the man that he cannot come back to his bar. The man attracts too much attention from the OSPs and Farrah doesn’t want to see him anymore. When the two of them were together, they used to dream about plots of land where they would live and farm together. The man tells Farrah that his brother has come to Mars and Farrah encourages him to see his brother. Farrah then locks the man out of the bar and tells him he cannot come back until he pays his tab. He suggests that the man sell an important asset, but the man lies and says he no longer has it. A while ago, Palestinians came to Mars hopeful of gaining their freedom. The man left behind everything on earth for the new settlement and the chance to start over. The man was tasked with growing plants and helping terraform the planet. But he ended up in prison where he was reprogrammed to stop speaking Arabic and despise his own people.  The man travels to the other side of the settlement in search of money so he can keep drinking. At one of the checkpoints in the Arab Quarter, he trades seeds for alcohol to soothe his withdrawal symptoms. He then makes a deposit of blood to pass through the gate. There’s a protest happening at another checkpoint. The man is resentful of the protesters for being Arab. He gets his liter of blood back and makes his way to his friend Abu Khaled’s place. Abu Khaled, who is also an alcoholic, has passed out and soiled himself. The man recalls how Abu once cared for him through withdrawals and tried to help him get sober. Afterwards, the man was bitter. He started drinking again and said hurtful things to Abu. Now, the two of them can barely communicate. The man steals money from Abu and leaves. The next day, the man wakes up with broken ribs, having passed out and been beaten by settlers again. He returns to his house, which has been looted, and searches for his hidden stash of alcohol. There’s none left, but he does find the last real poppy growing on Mars. Then, his brother Fathi appears with his daughter. He’s come to take the man home because he knows that he is sick and dying. The man cannot look at his niece. He recalls how he left his brother to come to Mars with Farrah. Fathi assures him that he can still come home and that he forgives him. Fathi suggests that the man sell his poppy to pay for transport back to Earth. The man says he will try to get the money. The man takes the poppy to the Import, Export, and Contraband (IEC) office and sells it to them. But instead of going straight to the transport platform, he goes to Farrah’s, pays off his tab, and gets drunk. Afterwards, he goes to the port and watches as his brother’s ship leaves. He sees his niece through the window, but can’t recall her name. He whispers to her that everyone is right about him. He is hopeless and rotten, but she–like the poppy–is resilient and good.