At the delta where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers meet sits the Mesopotamian Marshes, and it is where Mastour and Zahra grow up. They marry, but are soon separated by the outbreak of, first, the Iran-Iraq war and later the Gulf War. On the battlefield, Mastour becomes friends with Riad-a native of Baghdad-and when he is mortally wounded, he forces Riad to promise he’ ll look out for Zahra in his place. Riad moves to the village and does in fact fall in love with Zahra, but he is an outsider, and always will be. In Dawn of the World, Abbas Fahdel addresses the internal hostilities that plague the Middle East and the impact armed conflict has had on the area once referred to as the Garden of Eden.