In the fifties, young Alice leaves her natal Swiss mountains for the sunny and vibrant shores of Beirut. She falls madly in love with Joseph, a quirky astrophysicist intent on sending the first Lebanese national into space. Alice quickly fits in among his relatives, but after years of bliss, the civil war threatens their Garden of Eden.

In the middle of the night Lea knocks on the door of her brother's flat. Elie, disturbed, wonders what made his sister travel all the way from Lebanon to Belgium. Only in a phone conversation will he learn that his sister is pregnant, and the father of the child is Muslim. Their Christian family refuses to accept this "disgrace", demanding that Elie restore the family honor.