Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman directs this drama set against the backdrop of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 through to the present day. The film recounts a quartet of family stories inspired by the private diaries of the director's father, the letters his mother wrote to family members who were forced to leave the country in the late 1940s, & his own personal experiences, & paints a bittersweet portrait of the everyday lives of the Palestinians labelled ' Israeli-Arabs' who chose to remain & became an ethnic minority in their own country.