The lovers meet in oil-rich Baku, Azerbaijan -- a town on the Caspian Sea where east meets west, separated from Russia by both the Caucasian mountains and by its Muslim majority. Growing up in a powerful Islamic family (his uncle has an opulent palace complete with a harem) Ali loves the desert, engages in blood feuds, and embraces the fierce code of honor of his ancestors. But he also goes to a westernized Russian-run high school, where he falls in love with Nino, a beautiful Christian girl from Georgia who loves western fashion and finds the concept of wearing a veil unthinkable.

Ali and Nino decide that their love can overcome all the differences between them -- and they marry despite their families' objections. But then the beginnings of WWI and the Russian Revolution stir up all the old divisions -- Muslims against Christians, Russians against Persians, Shiites against Sunnis. Ali must meet his former classmates on opposite sides of the battlefield, and Nino must flee Azerbaijan with their infant daughter. Although their love is still strong, it becomes increasingly impossible for them to remain true to their conflicting loyalties. A sweeping romantic saga that has been compared to Dr. Zhivago and Gone with the Wind, "Ali and Nino" is at once an unforgettable romance, a war-time adventure, and a portrait of the political and ethnic turmoil that continues in this region even today.