The setting is a bar in the trendy Hamra district one year before the civil war. It is frequented by western tourists and rich Gulf Arabs. Zakaria (Ziad) is the bartender and his wife is the waitress. Both hail from a poor village in the countryside and both aspire to be city folks with a car, kids at school and automatic washer machine. However, the means do not meet the ends and both salaries do not suffice to pay for the city luxuries. With Zakaria's consent, his wife (Thuraya) starts "dating" the clients to make extra cash on the side. Although Zakaria and Thuraya believed that this moonlighting was discreet, their co-workers and other clients knew what was going on.
It goes like this: Thuraya is approached by a client and she pretends loudly that she has a headache or has a family errand, and then joins the client to his hotel room. One day, a client from Belgium develops an affection for Thuraya and starts sending flowers and letters for her at the bar openly. Zakarya, a traditionalist at heart, decides that it was time out. He orders his wife to stop the moonlighting. Then he approaches Mr. Antoin, the manager, to ask for a raise. Mr. Antoine refuses the request on grounds that their salaries with the moonlighting (al barrani) they should be allright, in reference to Thuraya's supposedly secret profession.