A film within a film, "Looking for Oum Kulthum" is the plight of an Iranian woman artist/filmmaker living in exile, as she embarks on capturing the life and art of the legendary female singer of the Arab world, Oum Kulthum. Through her difficult journey, not unlike her heroine's, she must face the struggles and sacrifices, and the price that a woman must pay if she dares to cross the lines of a conservative male-dominated society.