Jefra Owens, a U.S. state department legal aide, is beset by Zeena Al-Obaidi - a woman whose son, Kasim, died in service to the U.S. Army outside of Baghdad. She begs Jefra for help, hoping to have him buried in his birthplace in Mosul. However, Kasim's pending American citizenship, complicates matters and his American wife, Eva, and their infant daughter, Farrah, expect his remains returned for internment in the U.S.

With the powerful Al-Obaidi family pressuring the provisional authority, Colonel Alexander Guzman, the official in charge of Kasim's remains, forms a pact with Provisional Authority General Tariq Al-Kaysi to intern the body in Iraq rather than America, in an effort to placate insurgent forces and to insure future peaceful cooperation between U.S. and Iraqi authorities.

This leads to a military show trial, where Jefra faces off against her legal foil Alicia Clarke, and where Eva, and the rest, hear testimony regarding the circumstances of her deceased husband's heroic death. Touched by proceedings, in the aftermath of the hearing Guzman reneges on his part of the deal to turn over the remains, thereby forcing General Al-Kaysi to take matters into his own hands.

With Tariq seemingly having taken the day, Guzman's guilt prompts him to come clean about the plot, and he confesses his part to the grieving widow, who sadly, is mortally injured on the way back to her hotel.

At the funeral Guzman and the men of Kasim's unit deliver stirring eulogies, followed by the unexpected appearance of Eva's dismayed father, Philip - who breaks down, having to face the deaths of not only a son-in-law he has come to love, but that of his daughter as well.

Much later, on the anniversary of Eva's death, Philip and young Farrah visit the grave, and encounter a state department official who bemoans the way in which the situation was handled, and she further explains that she has seen to it that the young girl will be taken care of in monetary perpetuity. But, not before one last mystery is revealed.