Breathless

Sometimes people are scared of what they will find out

In a search for her mother, a woman from Berlin makes a treacherous journey to the Syrian border, battling through a world of smugglers and militants to find love, but also a father who deceived her all along.

Rüya leads a quiet life in Berlin, raised by her father Ayaz and longing to find the mother she has never met. On discovering she is in Syria, Rüya resolves to track her down despite the opposition of her restaurant-owning dad. She embarks on a tense, action-packed journey, on which she will find conflict, intrigue and love.

Running away, she sets off to the Turkish city of Antakya, near the war-torn Syrian border. On her journey, Rüya meets the helpful Yusuf when she misses a flight in Istanbul. She seeks to maintain an air of mystery, but their lives will become entwined as he returns to his estranged family after six years away.

In Antakya, they meet again but Rüya keeps her distance, focused on finding her mother. Yusuf, from a powerful local family, is there for his nephew’s circumcision ceremony and plans to return to Istanbul soon after. Rüya finds a family able to smuggle her into Syria. But the two of them are destined to cross paths again.

The only way to get across the border is to agree to a fake marriage with Boran, who has promised to help Rüya if she joins his militant group. This decision will bring her into conflict with Yusuf, whose father controls one of the most important trade routes along the Syrian border.

Yusuf’s family has its own worries. Smugglers constantly seek to muscle in on the cross-border trade and despite his best efforts to fight them off, his father is threatened by the head of a smuggling ring. When he bravely refuses to cave in to their demands, they abduct him.

As Yusuf seeks his father, he again encounters Rüya, now among the militants. The smuggling ring and the militants, it emerges, are one and the same group. Yusuf tracks them down to the Syrian border, just as Rüya and Boran attempt to cross over into Syria. A shoot-out erupts and the militants flee, abandoning Rüya.

She is now at the mercy of Yusuf, who takes her hostage. For him, she is a bargaining chip who can secure the release of his father. Her days of captivity begin as they negotiate a prisoner exchange. But gradually the hostility subsides as they begin to know each other better. The hostage-captor relationship leads to love.

Behind this wall of intrigue at the Syrian border, a face remains hidden to Rüya. The architect of her misfortune is none other than her father. With the code name “Hawk”, he is the head of the smuggling ring, with the Turkish intelligence agency on his trail.  Now aware of this treachery, will Rüya find her real mother? Or will her father deceive her again and bring her back to Berlin?