In 1956 Fernea moves with her husband to El Nahra, a small village in Afghanistan where he is conducting fieldwork as an anthropologist. Because she desires to live with her husband, Fernea agrees to the move, but she is severely challenged by the experience. She must wear the traditional abaya and conduct herself according to the restrictive social conventions regulating women's behavior. Additionally, she is not allowed to spend much time with her husband because of these rules. They live in a two room hut and must fully embrace the agrarian lifestyle. Finally, Fernea must learn to speak the local language, an arduous and frustrating process.
Despite the initial discomfort, Fernea soon becomes entranced by her life in El Nahra. Since she cannot spend time with her husband, she passes most of her days with the other women from the village. In fact, she begins writing this book as a means of helping her husband with his work since he cannot enter the women's social sphere. Fernea is not an anthropologist, but she quickly develops the skills necessary to help her husband perform this function.
Developing close relationships with many of the women, Fernea learns a great deal about the way their culture differs from her own. First, they are horrified to learn that Fernea has no wealth of her own, no children, and doesn't live near her mother. They worry that she will end up being beaten by her husband or abandoned with no one to take care of her. Naturally she reassures them that she will be fine, but this interaction demonstrates a huge break between the Iraqi view of family and the American one. The women she meets are animated and intelligent, fully embracing the freedom of their all-female social circle.
When Robert Fernea returns to El Nahra two years later, he is well received by his wife's former companions, the women of the village. They send him home with many letters for her, detailing how their lives have changed since meeting her. They miss her. During his visit, Fernea observes how, slowly but surely, modern industry has begun to transform the lives of these people.
