Searching For Sheida

Montreal journalist, ELENA TREMBLAY, is fed up with covering local mundane news. Her insatiable hunger for raising global awareness about social injustice compels her to cover an international story about SHEIDA, a Muslim woman she has never met, sentenced to death by stoning because of her Christian beliefs. While protests are springing up around the world in Sheida’s defence, Elena boards a flight to Iran. SAMUEL, a fervent believer, is secretly in love with Elena and feels torn between his faith and his love for a non-believer. Although Elena has grown fonder of Samuel with each passing day, she is still trying to heal from the tragic death of her late fiancé. Upon arriving in Iran, Elena is kidnapped from her hotel and wakes up in a locked room, surrounded by men in military attire. Elena has no idea that Sheida is also held captive in the same building. Unbeknownst to Elena, her mother SUZANNE, full of pain and regret and bearing a heavy secret, has hired a sharp, private detective. BOB MAILLARD’s assignment is to locate Elena’s father in Iran, whom Elena has never known. Samuel heads for Iran, unable to deny his romantic feelings for Elena and willing to sacrifice everything for the woman he loves. He teams up with Maillard in Tehran on a quest to find her in a race against time. An explosion erupts in the building where the two women are kept as prisoners, but they manage to escape and make it to a safe house where they form an unbreakable bond. Elena’s fate is now intertwined with that of Sheida’s, whose veiled face remains a mystery because of ARMAN, her merciless ex-husband, now a fundamentalist, who made sure to leave Sheida permanently damaged. When Sheida willingly reveals her face to Elena for the very first time, this pivotal moment will irreversibly impact Elena's faith and change her life forever. The escape plan to smuggle the two women out of the safe house fails as Arman intercepts them on their way back to Tehran. Filled with revenge and ambition, the rebel leader uses Sheida as leverage to negotiate the reinstatement of the Sharia law and challenge the government with an ultimatum. Sheida’s father, a high-ranking member of the Guardian Council struggles to forgive himself for sentencing his own daughter to death. He chooses to sacrifice his career as a government official to save his daughter. With the secret involvement of Allied countries and Maillard’s masterful plan, Sheida’s life is spared, but still far from free, she is turned over to the Iranian authorities. Samuel and Elena are finally reunited in Tehran. He hands Elena a letter from her mother, unveiling the entire story of Elena’s father which ties into Suzanne’s painful, twisted past. It turns out Elena and Sheida share a far stronger bond than they could ever have imagined, that of sisters. As Sheida awaits a new trial, her adoptive mother YASMINE, demonstrates incredible determination and courage by risking her life to help Sheida escape the Iranian authorities. Sheida makes it safely to Canada with Elena, Samuel, and Maillard, before reuniting with her birth mother.