Through history, research and personal interviews, Cathy Sultan chronicles life in southern Lebanon and northern Israel during the brutal war of the summer of 2006. As in her other critically acclaimed books, Sultan focuses on ordinary people, who are overlooked by politicians and military leaders and become victims of poor decisions made by the governments of Israel, Lebanon and the United States.

She vividly portrays the polluting effects of cluster bombs and explains how different factions within the Lebanese government keep it on the brink of further violence. She writes of the tiny Shabba Farms area's importance to Hezbollah and of the refugee camp that holds members of Fatah al-Islam, a Sunni militant group, despite efforts of the Lebanese army. Sultan also addresses media treatment of the war, dispels common myths about the region, and includes a timeline of Lebanese history, and maps depicting violence around the area.