Walter Vale, a Connecticut College economics professor who befriends a young couple who have been squatting in his New York City apartment. Vale visits New York City infrequently, and is in town for an academic conference. The young unmarried couple, Tarek, a Syrian djembe player, and Zainab, a Senegalese jewelry-maker, are both illegal immigrants.
Vale's depression is somewhat lifted by Tarek's drum lessons. After Tarek is arrested at a subway station by the police, he is transferred to a detention center for illegal immigrants. Vale attempts to prevent the young musician's deportation from the United States, paying for an immigration lawyer.
Tarek's mother Mouna, whose journalist husband died following a lengthy politically-motivated imprisonment in Syria, arrives from her home in Michigan, and ends up also staying in Vale's apartment. Mouna, also in the States illegally, develops a friendship with Vale, which is abruptly terminated when Tarek is summarily deported.
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