Reem is twenty, bright and strikingly attractive. Nick is twenty-seven and determined to do what he can to make the world a better place. But when they meet in a fashionable bar it is certainly no accident. For Reem has completed her training as a so-called terrorist - under the tutelage of the mysterious Ustaz, or teacher, and Nicholas Lorimer is her first assignment. It is Nick's first posting abroad. The UN has sent him to Beirut to help trace thousands of Lebanese missing during the country's civil war and Nick has what Reem needs; access out of the city's besieged western sector into the mainly Christian east, and to a notorious rightwing warlord with his sights set on the country's presidency. The Ustaz wants El-Hami killed before he aligns the Arab country with the United States and Israel, plunging the entire region into turmoil. For Reem, the fight is personal. She has lost her family and home. She volunteers for the ultimate mission - an Operation of Quality. A suicide attack. Nick's love for Reem explodes the bubble of foreignness that has kept him unscathed by the war.