Behind the Sun depicts the political protests and ensuing detainment and dehumanisation of protesters in the immediate aftermath of Egypt's defeat in the June '67 war against Israel. When the female protagonist's father, a senior military commander, insists on an investigation into the real causes of the defeat, this eventually leads to his assassination, the imprisonment of his son (the only witness) and rape of his daughter Suheir, by the commander of the military prison, Ja'afari. It is the story of Suheir, a young woman recruited against her will after her father's murder to write reports on college students and professors who are discontented with the ruling regime, and her subsequent double-crossing of the security intelligence officials.
