Inside the walls of the Automobile Club of Egypt two very different worlds collide - Cairo's European elite and the Egyptian staff who wait on them.

The servants, a squabbling, humorous and deeply human group, live in a perpetual state of fear under the tyrannical rule of Alku. When Abd el-Aziz Gaafar becomes the target of Alku's cruelty and his pride gets the better of him, a devastating act sends ripples through his family. Soon, the Gaafars are drawn into the turbulent politics of the club - both public and private - and servants and masters are subsumed by Egypt's social upheaval.

Egyptians both inside and outside the Automobile Club will all face a stark choice: to live safely without dignity, or to fight for their rights and risk everything.

Translated by: Russell Harris