Going back to 534 AD, the author of "Tripoli" introduces Belisarius and his mission to conquer North Africa and to convert Jews and Berbers to Christianity. Past this ancient background the story begins with the bombardment of Tripoli during World War II in a poor section of the city, where Jews, Christians and Muslims sustained most of the damage from the war, and were the Jacob family resided. Sofia, the grandmother's of five finds herself struggling to keep the family alive, first with the Italians, the Germans, then the British and finally with the people that she trusted the most the Libyan Arabs.