Bilqis, a scientist, finds herself in the desert called the Hitherlands, living on the fringes of society, because she refused to renounce her religion. She creates a life with her lover Sule and after multiple miscarriages, Bilqis finds herself pregnant. As Bilqis is one of the only scientists and doctors around she goes in search of an ultrasound to help another mother and quickly is ambushed by catchers who want to steal her baby and sell her organs. Bilqis escapes with the help of her friend Isa but not before she is forced to confront that she played a role in her own and many women's infertility through a vaccine she created. The incident leads her back to the city where she is forced to renounce her religion in pursuit of a cure for the vaccine's effects.