In a quaint Armenian village, Khanna, a young woman, plans to establish a guesthouse with her uncle’s family. They are renovating the house of the old neighbor, Lev, who has just passed away. Even though she receives a rejection of funding she attempts to fulfill her plan. By revealing the backstory of Khanna’s childhood through flashbacks, the reader witnesses her life during the Soviet years, the challenging years of Armenia’s independence, and the present day; these times hold both bitter and humorous experiences. The story covers her relationships with her parents, her unhappy marriage, a concealed conflict with her mother-in-law, her own sexual urges and search for her feminine self while contending against a traditional society. Her relations with a lover and hidden passion towards her cousin reveal the inner world of a woman with a complex mental condition in search of her true self. The story slowly unravels a secret of her grandmother, which not only explains the grandmother’s conflict with Khanna, but also their similarities as women cut from the same cloth, but from different generations. In a senile state, the grandmother confesses that the father of her son was Lev, the neighbor, whom she hated. When the guesthouse is ready for its grand opening, the house catches on fire at night. Khanna notices her grandmother returning from Lev’s graveyard at the same time. Reader stays wondering whether grandmother was the reason for Lev’s death and the fire. The grandmother soon dies, and, at the funeral, Khanna and her cousin accidentally meet in the barn. The atmosphere is so inflamed with uncertainty and intensity, they end up in each other’s arms. Long synopsis here.