In the city of Beirut, five shabby dwellings circle a courtyard in which stands a pomegranate tree weeping blood red fruit. The residents hear screams in the night as a boy is beaten by his father for masturbating in his sleep. A crime not worthy of the punishment - the neighbours gossip and decide he must have tried to rape his sister. The poems he writes are perhaps an even greater crime to his father, but ultimately a gift to his eldest sister, who narrates their story with a combination of brutal truth and stunning prose.