Damascus Blues

Khalil Baptiste leaves Philadelphia for Damascus on a medical school fellowship. He has no plans of returning to the city of brotherly love. He leaves behind a love, Paivi, but she is a dream with baggage.
In Damascus he quickly finds out that a knowledge of Arabic is not enough to negotiate the cul-de-sacs of that war-torn world, and his most challenging question is: who can he trust? Most of his time is spent questioning his decision to embark on a future in a place where life is fraught with anxiety and friends with ulterior motives.