This novel opens in the year 2004, and Chechnya has endured years of war, bombings, and violence. As a result, many of the characters are living in destitution. Due to limited resources and the violence surrounding them, characters often have to make morally questionable decisions or do things to protect themselves that they wouldn’t do in peacetime. The first example of this occurs when Sonja is offered a favor by a man in exchange for saving his brother Alu’s life. Sonja knows that the man is involved in criminal activity but accepts his help anyway. Sonja asks the man for medical supplies, but when she picks up the supplies, she realizes they are stolen. As Sonja considers accepting the supplies, “she could feel him testing her, ready to blunt the slightest edge of moral outrage with a lecture on relativism in war” (117). Nevertheless, Sonja is aware of the scarcity of medical supplies and accepts the criminal’s help, believing that the ability to care for her patients is more important than refusing stolen goods on the grounds of morality.

Before the start of the novel, Ramzan works for several years as a tradesman. After the war begins, rebel forces offer Ramzan a job transporting weapons to rebel encampments.