In Tangier’s old town, two young Casablancan girls - BADIA and IMANE - live their lives amongst the army of workers who inhabit the city. Peeling shrimps by day in a spotless shrimp factory then turning tricks by night, the girls make extra money by fencing meagre goods stolen from their nocturnal ‘clients’. Beyond Tangier lies the “Free Zone”, a symbol for global world sub-contracting. It is Europe on Moroccan land, on African land: close, tangible, yet accessible only to those with a work permit. One evening BADIA and IMANE encounter two other girls, ASMA and NAWAL who are slightly more advantaged than them in that they work in the Free Zone which BADIA sees as a springboard into a more material world. Strengthened by their new friendship they form what BADIA feels to be a girl power gang where they can conquer all: cosmopolitan cafes, upscale oceanfront houses, better paying jobs and luxury goods -- altogether more opportunities. The girls explore every corner of this new space and make it theirs from dusk to dawn; they never sleep and they don’t stop moving. But they encounter other opportunists and gangsters who put even more temptation in BADIA’s sights and they are certainly not afraid to give her a run for her money.
