The Circle 2000 In a hospital waiting room a woman learns her daughter, Solmaz Gholami, has just given birth The ultrasound test had prepared the family for a boy The baby, it turns out, is a girl The joy the mother anticipated turns to terror for she knows her son in laws family will abandon her daughter The old woman flees as the in laws arrive On the crowded streets of Tehran a place where women are not permitted to stay out on their own or smoke in public two women are also on the run Arezou and Nargess have just been granted temporary leave from prison but they have no plans to return They manage to scrounge together enough money for the bus trip to Nargess hometown, but she lacks proper identification, and the police are searching everyone at the station Meanwhile, their friend Pari has just escaped from prison in order to have an abortion Threatened with death by her brothers, she flees from her fathers house and meets with a former inmate, Elham, who is now married to a doctor and works in a hospital Despite her connections, Elham is unable to help Pari in her hour of need Despondent, Pari wanders the streets and chances upon Nayereh, a woman about to abandon her young daughter Pari tries to stop her, but it is too late Soon after, Nayareh, falsely accused of prostitution, is taken into custody by the police As Panahis narrative shifts dynamically from woman to woman, their stories culminate with tremendous potency, transforming a shared sense of despair and injustice into one kinship, and even hope