Baghdad Outside Baghdad is based on the Gilgamesh Sumerian legend, set in the first decades of the 20th century and told with a realistic and human hold. The story portraits six different stories that in different ways reflects the intellectual and cultural life in Iraq in that period, a period that fostered great poets and singers. The film presents six figures from this period through easy going as well as melancholic perspectives, while they live as strangers in their homeland and slowly move towards death. Gilgamesh is constantly present in the story, and as set in the historical epic portrayal, watchful and fearful of the death. Baghdad Outside Baghdad is outermost a historical portrait of Iraq.
Amidst the turmoil of the 1991 war, parents faced a harrowing choice: to protect their loved ones from bombs and missiles, they sought refuge in shelters. In Baghdad's Amiriyah shelter, 450 souls found solace, but tragedy struck at dawn when two US missiles, guided by precision, ravaged the sanctuary, leaving devastation in their wake. Desperate families waited outside, their hopes dashed as the reality of war's cruelty unfolded, leaving behind a dawn tainted with sorrow.
The film depicts life in Iraq during the Iraq-Iran war through the characters of the fighters Jabbar and Imad (played by Jalal Kamel and Nizar Al-Samarrai). They live in the city of Basra and the Iraqi countryside amidst the war atmosphere. Jalal develops a love relationship with the beautiful girl Soha, and they both join their military duties.
Saleh inherits a building after the death of his uncle, he is surprised to find out that tenants living in the building are suffering from different kind of problems caused by his late uncle especially the high rent that he used to collect from them which is higher than the amount agreed on in the contract. Saleh gets an offer from a rich man who wants to buy the building by any price but Saleh refuses that causes the rich man to ask one of his men to do the job of scaring the tenants so they would leave the building.
Ibrahim, the owner of a large car workshop, marries a poor girl called Mahasen, which his brothers fear because of their fear of sharing their inheritance. At the same time, Ismael feels a lot of hatred and hatred toward Ibrahim, who works for him in the workshop, The problems all the time with the pros, but soon change the relationship between Mahasen and Ishmael.