Igal Naor stars in a drama charting Saddam Hussein's turbulent rule over Iraq, tracing his dictatorship from its beginnings in a political coup within his Ba'ath party in 1979 to the conflicts of later years. In the first episode, detractors of the new regime face a harsh punishment and Saddam's dominant mother dies.

In 1988, as Baghdad celebrates victory in the war with Iran, Kuwait's upsurge in oil output challenges future Iraqi prosperity. Tension grows within Saddam Hussein's household due to the increasingly erratic behaviour of his son Uday, who beats a man to death, and a frosty relationship between the dictator and his partner Sajida, that eventually leads to him taking Samira as a second wife.

The drama captures the events of May 1995, when Iraq was crippled by sanctions after refusing to comply with inspections. Feeling betrayed following the appointment of Saddam's second son Uday as the dictator's successor, Hussein Kamel gave UN and CIA officials information on the whereabouts of the country's hidden weapons. This act of disloyalty led to he and his brother being murdered by their uncle.

The invasion of Iraq forces Saddam to go into hiding near the town of Tikrit, while his daughters, grandchildren and wife flee the country to safety in Syria. Uday, Qusay and eldest grandson Mustapha take refuge at a relative's house in Baghdad, but disloyalty leads to their deaths, and the net begins to close in on the former president's secluded hiding place.