Ahmad and Hasan were two of the brightest students at Aden College in Yemen; they were also best friends. After graduation, they traveled together to Britain, where Ahmad studied medicine in Edinburgh and Hasan studied law in London. Their friendship remained strong while in Britain, as did their competitive natures. However, politics and ambition changed all that!

Hasan returns to Aden, where he gets married to none other than Ahmad's sister, Salma, who adores him. Hasan's career is just as successful as his personal life, and he becomes a high-ranking, well-respected minister of justice. Meanwhile, Ahmad develops a good reputation as a physician, but diagnoses murder by the communist government, and has to flee.

Fate brings the best friends back together in Sanaa, the capital of North Yemen. This time, the circumstances are dire. Once again Ahmad's forensic training incriminates one of the president's in-laws, accused of murdering a burglar. But Hasan chooses to protect the sheikh, and put his brother-in-law, in jail. Help comes from a teenaged prostitute.