Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the streets of Tehran are patrolled by morality activists, and fundamentalists take control of universities. Women are required to wear the hijab, their freedoms are restricted, and reading Western literature becomes an act of rebellion.

This forces Azar Nafisi (Golshifteh Farahani), an ambitious literature lecturer, to resign from her position at the University of Tehran. She secretly invites a group of the most dedicated students to her home. Together, they read forbidden classics of Western literature—Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” novels by Henry James, and Jane Austen. Initially shy, the young women gradually open up, sharing their dreams, fears, love stories, and the humiliations of life under a totalitarian regime.