Born in Heera Mandi, Lahore's famous red-light district, Rania is a tour guide by day and a classical singer by night. Despite the worst of humanity every day – her madrassa-running father selling her mother's body and beating her sister – Rania remains the 'troublemaker', unable to give up on her dreams.
When an Indian filmmaker encourages her to enrol in a music contest that can take her to New York, her dreams take flight. But even as she wins the hearts of her listeners, a family secret threatens to bring her life in Heera Mandi back in sharp relief, upending the new life she has built for herself.
From the oppressive walls of religious hypocrisy to the orange jumpsuits of American prisons, Skyfall is a tender, piercing debut that teaches us the strength of human endeavour and our desire for love in a time of hate.