Major Khaled Ali’s heroics during a successful assault on a Kargil post earn him widespread respect during Pakistan’s otherwise bungled incursion into Indian-held Kashmir in 1999. He discovers, to his horror, that President General Deemuk has disowned his dead and captured comrades. Pakistanis talk in hushed voices about the country’s need for a course correction after years of deadly blunders and think wishfully that Khaled could be their savior. Khaled, his family, and his close associates develop the Jhelum Plan.

Khaled’s wife, the brilliant Maryam, becomes a schoolteacher at the Lalpeeli Masjid in Islamabad, a hotbed of extremism, to work from within to attempt moderation. But girls from Maryam’s school, led by the Mullahs, “arrest” pimps and prostitutes, including some Chinese citizens. Under duress because of Chinese pressure, General President Deemuk unleashes the army’s full force to strike against the Mullahs, killing hundreds and wounding many more.

Maryam is trapped inside the mosque, while Khaled is with his distraught daughters trying to lift their spirits, waiting for his wife to come home.

Islamabad is a heart-wrenching, yet exciting story of Khaled and Maryam’s everlasting love and their plan to make life better for their countrymen torn apart by war, violence, and chaos.