The book follows two parallel stories connected by the theme of love and spiritual awakening. In the present, Ella Rubinstein, a dissatisfied housewife, reads a manuscript about Sufism and becomes emotionally transformed as she questions her marriage and life choices.
In the past, the story focuses on Shams of Tabriz and the poet Rumi. Shams introduces Rumi to a deeper, spiritual form of love that goes beyond religion and social rules. This friendship changes Rumi completely, but it also causes jealousy and leads to Shams’s death.
The novel shows that true love is transformative, freeing, and often challenges social norms.