Abu Dahab is a cautious man. He always manages to survive, keeping his
secrets close to his heart. This is why he is reluctant, when little Ali asks him to smuggle Karam out of the camp.
Karam dreams of going to the States and start a life there; she will finally reunite with her little son, Sanad. Yet, she doesn’t know, that her last day as a TV journalist will end with her being stuck in an Israeli siege, unable to fulfill her dream.
The Israeli closure has been imposed ahead of time due to fears of possible attacks during the Purim festivities in which Israelis celebrate the day Jews won over oppression in ancient Persia. As Karam watches the Purim festivities on TV, she wonders: “They celebrate in happiness while my life stops”.
For the past 10 years, Abu Dahab, an infamous thief has dug tunnels from his house, into Israeli cities, where he would go looting. When Abu Dahab reveals his tunnels to Karam, she immediately rushes through the Tel-Aviv tunnel, where the airport is. Yet, to her disappointment, the tunnel is not completed. “Don’t worry. Tel Aviv is only a few digs away. If we dig all night and day, you will be out in time for your flight” he reassures her.
As they dig, Karam and Abu Dahab bond by revealing the turning points in their lives to each other. Abu Dahab recalls the first tunnel he dug and Karam remembers her husband who left her and immigrated while she took care of her sick father, who died recently. As for Ali, he paints their dreams and his own on the tunnel’s grey walls.
When it is ready, Abu Dahab, Karam and Ali disguise themselves to blend in among the Israelis and emerge into a masquerade street parade. Among the cross-dressed crowd and clown-like kids, Abu Dahab is now a Hasidic Jew, Karam a Native American - and Ali, he returns to the refugee camp; it is not his time.
In Tel Aviv, Karam heads to the airport. Transformed by the experience of existing in a tunnel, she glances at the masquerade, leaving it behind, a world where Abu Dahab blends in among the crowd that is oblivious to his identity.