In 1986 in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, a young Egyptian, army recruit opens the fire of his AK-47 on a group of Israeli tourists, as they basked in the warmth of in a sun-drenched beach, killing and wounding a number of men, women, and children. Overnight, Egyptian mass media turned the killer soldier into a folk hero, as he sat in an Egyptian military prison awaiting trial. The Mubarak administration condemned the grizzly attack and proceeded to prepare for the soldier's court-martial. The opposition parties, on the other hand, went in the opposite direction canonizing the killer-soldier, and calling for his immediate release. All of Egypt ignited in turmoil. But less than a month after the incident, the soldier turned up dead in his cell, having hanged himself from the iron bars of his cell. The Egyptian government called the dead soldier a paranoid psychopath, who got what he deserved, while the opposition parties proclaimed him a martyr, sacrificed by the authorities to placate the Israelis. Bill Thomas, an American reporter, stationed in Egypt at the time, becomes obsessed with the story. He goes on a crusade to find out the truth about the dead killer-soldier. What he finds out at the end of his quest leaves him flabbergasted.