Usama travels by taxi toward the Jordan Valley, encounters Abu Muhammad who shares his family's exile history, a Kuwait‑bought watch, and his son Khalid’s torture; the group anticipates a checkpoint, while Usama wrestles with his training‑induced disillusionment and deep yearning for home. Usama is detained at a checkpoint, subjected to a humiliating strip‑search and intensive interrogation by a Polish soldier, recounts his work and family‑reunion history, witnesses abuse of other detainees, and is finally released onto a taxi that returns him to the West Bank. Usama’s return taxi becomes a micro‑cosm of occupation‑era dissent: passengers argue over Israeli‑made cigarettes, “protective tariffs,” and resistance; a fort‑armed woman in her forties challenges a bombastic nationalist, introduces the legend of Zarqa al‑Yamama, and later reappears healed; the barren landscape outside is described, and the vehicle finally stops in the town square. Usama returns to his hometown, reunites emotionally with his mother, learns of family expectations about marriage, visits the ancestral mansion where he encounters his uncle Abu Adil, foreign journalists, and French cameramen discussing occupation‑related employment; he meets cousin Nuwar, discovers Adil’s deteriorating health and the house’s lack of servants, and promises to investigate Adil’s condition. Usama’s mother urges him to take a job on his uncle’s farm and hints at marrying his cousin Nuwar, noting that there are no government or UNRWA positions available; despite his commitment to the resistance, Usama promises to visit the farm, deepening his personal dilemma.