Since Mariam was a little girl growing up in the kolba, she needed the love and approval of a man. She goes to her father’s house hoping to live with him, his three wives and all of their children. Being the illegitimate child that she is, she is not wanted there so they marry her off to Rasheed after her mother kills herself. She begs her father to let her stay with them – begs for his love and acceptance – but her request falls on deaf ears and she is married off the next day. She tells her father that she never wants to speak to him again and when he tries to contact her almost ten years later, she refuses to speak to him. She stares out of the window at him, waiting and hoping for her to speak to him (just like he did to her the first night she came to ask to live there) and closes the curtain. He leaves a letter which she tears up without reading. The act of pride comes back to hurt her later when she gains hope in thinking she can get money from her father to help her family’s dire situation. Her hopes are crushed when she finds out that her father passed away many years ago. Had she read the letter he left her then she would have known that an inheritance awaited her.
After her initial apprehension to her marriage with Rasheed, she comes to seek his approval just as she did from her father. She goes from being disgusted by him to looking forward to making his meals. She accepts and even shows gratitude for her new life in this arranged marriage but it quickly goes sour after they both realize she is unable to have children. Mariam still seeks the approval she lost even after the physical and mental abuse from Rasheed. Then Laila shows up and Rasheed realizes that she can be the chance for having another son and they quickly marry to Mariam’s dismay. Laila ends up having a girl and Rasheed loses his admiration for her and she starts to get the same mistreatment as Mariam. The two women’s dislike toward each other turns to a close bond from this common unfortunate situation of abuse and unhappiness that they share. The other thing they have in common is their love for Laila’s little girl, Aziza. Laila does and up having a son who is doted upon by Rasheed unlike Aziza who he knew by the looks of her that she wasn’t his daughter. Aziza is the daughter of Tariq who was thought to be dead until he showed up at the door. The son tells Rasheed that he was there and Rasheed almost kills Laila by strangling her. Mariam grabs a shovel and kills him. She tells Laila to run away with the children and Tariq. She takes the blame and is sentenced to murder.
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