Honey and Ashes tells the stories of three women in contemporary North Africa whose lives intersect as they strive for success and fulfillment in their lives and relations with men. Naima is a doctor, Amina, and academic, and Leila, loves Hassan, but must keep her love hidden from her strict father. She is pursued by three men who perceive her as being promiscuous after seeing her kiss Hassan. Leila escapes a near rape when the passing motorist Naima stops. A successful doctor in her mid-40s, Naima still thinks about the Russian student she loved but had to give up because of family pressure to enter an arranged marriage. At the hospital where she works, Naima treats Amina for what turns out to be a beating from Amina’s husband. Although their ages and social backgrounds differ, the paths of the three women cross, bringing to light the multiple obstacles which society has placed in their way. Leila is a rebellious young woman still her abusive husband. Naima, 45 years old, tries to pass her values on to her young daughter, the next generation. On the surface, the world they live in seems modern, but in reality, they are painfully caught between tradition and modernity, in a world where even the most seemingly liberal of men can maintain constricting moral beliefs about women and their given roles. Even love offers no concrete protection from the strictures of patriarchy. (Im Hyun-Ock)