Firdaus takes a job at a local office and refuses to offer her body to the higher officials for promotions or raises. Although she believes that her new job will bring respect, she makes significantly less money than when working as a prostitute, and lives in squalid conditions. Furthermore, her office job gives her little autonomy or freedom which she values so highly. She eventually falls in love with Ibrahim, a coworker and revolutionary chairman, with whom she develops a deep emotional connection. But when Ibrahim announces his engagement to the chairman's daughter, which has clearly been engineered to help his career, Firdaus realizes he does not reciprocate her feelings and only used her for sex.