Set in the mountainous borderlands between the warring nations of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the story follows Rena Effendi, a photographer in pursuit of Satyrus effendi, a rare and critically endangered butterfly named in honor of her father, an enigmatic Soviet entomologist who was absent from her life.
He died in 1991, when Rena was just fourteen, amid war and the collapse of the USSR. Rena retraces his old butterfly-hunting routes through what is now a devastated landscape, deep into a remote Caucasus exclave isolated by decades of conflict. The butterfly is known to appear there only once a year, fluttering high over militarized border that people are forbidden to cross. On this journey of discovery, Rena comes closer to her father, confronting the distance between them and coming to terms with his troubled legacy.
