Eritrea during the independence war against Ethiopia. Awet’s mother left her when she was only a little girl and now she is growing up - in the midst of the upheaval - in an orphanage in Asmara. Her sense of justice is in evidence at an early age; as a young girl she is always trying to assert herself and protest against injustice. Several years later, her father - whom she believed lost - takes her away to live with his new family. But Awet is not welcome; her father torments her and finally gives her and her sister to one of Eritrea’s liberation armies. The two girls are brought to a camp where they are to be trained as soldiers. There Awet experiences friendship, solidarity, and enthusiasm for the ideals of freedom. But her dream is shattered when she realizes that her heroes are committed to a brutal brothers’ war against another liberation army. Confronted with death and fanaticism, Awet has to resort to her ‘heart of fire’, her courage and her conscience, to find a way out of her ordeal.