Audrey Tautou movingly portrays a Turkish chambermaid named Senay who is seeking asylum in Britain. Chiwetel Ejiofor gives a compelling performance as Okwe, a Nigerian exile, who works at the same hotel as a porter and moonlights as a cab driver. Both live their lives under a cloud of fear from the authorities, combined with a determination and drive only the forgotten can possess.

When Okwe makes a shocking and gruesome discovery in one of the hotel rooms, he falls into the shadiest of worlds where everything has its price. How will the pair react? Can their romance survive in such desperate circumstances? Okwe has stumbled across the hotel's dirty secret and he is faced with an impossible dilemma. He is a decent man, but how can he do the right thing - given his precarious status - and still protect himself and Senay?