Sumer. Babylon. The epic Gilgamesh and the legendary Tower of Babel. Today, these names still resonate. They embody Mesopotamia – the land between the two rivers of Tigris and Euphrates. Regarded as a cradle of civilization, within this historical region humanity organized itself into a society of tens of thousands. They invented writing, developed agriculture, and monumental architectural structures. The history of the region is now more valuable than ever, with the resurgence of a terrorist group – Islamic State – determined to erase all traces of this remarkable ancient civilization. What lessons can be learned from Mesopotamia, and what can be done to preserve its remaining traces ? Jawad Bashara, an Iraqi writer exiled in France under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, returns to his country in a quest to rescue the Mesopotamian treasures targeted by Islamic State, embarking on a hazardous journey in search of our origins.