Young Layla and her brother become involved in the student activism of the 1940s and early 1950s and in the popular resistance to continued imperialist rule; the story culminates when Adb Al Nasser's nationalization of the canal led to a British, French, and Israeli invasion. Not only daring in her themes, Al Zayyat was also bold in her use of colloquial Arabic, and the novel contains some of the liveliest dialogue in modern Arabic literature.