It is 1986 in Iran. Undercover French journalist Freidoune Sahebjam (Caviezel) is traveling though a small southwestern village when his car breaks down. Surrounded by strife, he has little choice other to wait until his car is repaired and is soon approached by persistent local Zahra (Aghdashloo), who convinces him to follow her into the courtyard behind her home. There, she reveals to him that she has just bore witness to a most heinous crime - the stoning of an innocent woman who refused to divorce her husband so he could marry a younger girl. To get his way the husband accused his wife of adultery and, in order to ensure that she had no chance of defending herself, blackmailed several male villagers to testify on his behalf. A tribunal was quickly called, and her fate forever sealed.

It is 1986 in Iran. Undercover French journalist Freidoune Sahebjam (Caviezel) is traveling though a small southwestern village when his car breaks down. Surrounded by strife, he has little choice other to wait until his car is repaired and is soon approached by persistent local Zahra (Aghdashloo), who convinces him to follow her into the courtyard behind her home. There, she reveals to him that she has just bore witness to a most heinous crime - the stoning of an innocent woman who refused to divorce her husband so he could marry a younger girl. To get his way the husband accused his wife of adultery and, in order to ensure that she had no chance of defending herself, blackmailed several male villagers to testify on his behalf. A tribunal was quickly called, and her fate forever sealed. (less)