Lillie Rowe (Hera Hilmar) is a strong-willed and fearless young woman who lives with her wealthy parents in Philadelphia in 1914. In her voiceover reflections, she says of herself: "I thought I was going to change the world but, of course, it was the world that changed me."
After hearing a plea for help for the people of Eastern Anatolia from Jude Gresham (Josh Hartnett), a mission doctor, she defies the will of her shocked parents by taking a truck filled with medical supplies to this dangerous part of the world. Luck is with Lillie when Ismail Vell (Michiel Huisman), a lieutenant in the Ottoman Imperial Empire Army, is assigned to escort her to the mission. Along the way, he fends off some bandits and proves himself to be a good soldier.
After working with Lillie for a while, Gresham is convinced that this extraordinary woman is the soul mate he has been looking for all his life. But sadly for him, this American falls in love with Vell, a devout Muslim. Their romance is put in jeopardy by the start of World War I and the imminent genocide of Armenian Christians.
Joseph Ruben directs this melodramatic romance set in a time and region of the world that is still ridden with the lingering effects of death and destruction of yesteryear.