Being the first collaboration between Adel Emam and Omar Sharif, arguably the most prominent actors in Egypt and the Middle East, the movie was a much-anticipated summer blockbuster.

However, its message proved so controversial that Facebook groups sporting Adel Emam's picture in Coptic garb called for a boycott of his movies, and the resulting emotional distress is reported to have prompted Imam to move from his home in Cairo to a summer house in Porto Marina, a resort on Egypt's northern coast.

When the lives of Mahmoud, a Muslim sheikh (Omar Sharif) and Boulos, a Christian priest (Adel Emam) are threatened by religious extremists on both sides, the Egyptian government inducts them into a witness protection program that requires them to disguise themselves as the Christian, Marcus Abdel-Shahid, and a Muslim sheikh, Hassan el-Attar, respectively.

When, unwittingly, they move into the same building, a friendship blossoms that must, along with a romance between the protagonists' children, withstand the difficulties of prejudice and social persecution.

The film addresses issues of religious extremism, intolerance and sectarian violence, and emphasises the possibility of friendship and love among members of different religions.