Take Off

Sameera, a Kerala nurse, decides to work in Iraq to support her family burdened by loans. Her husband Faizal challenges the plan, and their disagreements lead to divorce, leaving Ibrahim in Faizal's care. In the wake of this upheaval, she begins to see Shaheed, a colleague who understands her struggles and offers support.

Shaheed becomes a supportive ally, and the two marry before the move to Iraq. They plan to relocate together with 19 nurses from Sameera's hospital to join Tikrit Teaching College. The marriage marks a fresh start as they prepare for the dangerous assignment ahead.

Sameera and the group of 19 nurses depart Kerala to Iraq to join Tikrit Teaching College, hopeful for better prospects. The journey reveals the region's instability, and they realize the assignment will be hard. Upon arrival in Tikrit, Sameera's knowledge of Arabic helps her coordinate with local doctors and leaders, and the nurses begin adjusting to the new environment.

Life in Tikrit grows increasingly perilous as conflicts rise and casualties mount. Sameera uses her Arabic skills to lead the nurses through chaotic shifts and tense hospital corridors. She discovers she is pregnant but conceals the news from Ibrahim, who is about to visit for a vacation.

Faizal travels to Iraq to permanently hand over Ibrahim to Sameera, bringing the boy into the new household. Ibrahim begins to adjust but remains wary of Shaheed as a stepfather. The family faces mounting strain as the hospital work intensifies.

Ibrahim resents Shaheed as his mother's husband and resists accepting him as a father figure. He slips away to visit the riot zones, testing Shaheed's patience. Shaheed offers quiet support and suggests giving Ibrahim time to adapt to the harsh new reality.

Shaheed volunteers to move with an Army medical team to Mosul to help with the mounting casualties. Within a day, Mosul falls to ISIS and the medical team is taken captive. Sameera pleads with hospital management and the Indian Embassy, hoping for a rescue operation before the situation deteriorates.

In the ISIS-controlled Mosul base, militants test the nurses to verify their identity as Muslims. Sameera's fluency in Arabic, along with her son's Qur'an knowledge and coordinated Namaaz, helps persuade the captors that the group is safe, avoiding immediate harm. The nurses are kept as captives and prepared for transport under threat.

The Kerala Chief Minister and India's Foreign Affairs Minister brief the Indian Ambassador in Baghdad about the crisis, seeking a resolution. They explore possible intervention options while acknowledging the complexities of intervening in a war zone. The ambassador cautions that direct intervention is constrained by safety and diplomatic limitations.

International Red Cross and Red Crescent offer assistance and arrange a bus to evacuate the stranded nurses from Tikrit. The Indian Embassy, however, cancels permission due to the ongoing war zone risk, leaving the Indian nurses isolated while others from different nationalities are evacuated. The plan collapses as ground realities shift rapidly.

Crescent Group's Jayamohan negotiates with Sheikh Salman, a member of a royal Saudi family, to broker an unofficial deal between India and ISIS to transfer the nurses to Erbil. The arrangement remains informal and unrecorded, driven by urgent pleas from the nurses and diplomatic pressures back home.

Sameera locates Shaheed among ISIS captives who face execution and pleads for his life, succeeding in rescuing him. The group, including Ibrahim and the nurses, is moved to Kurdistan, then flown back to Cochin, India. Footage of the nurses' arrival is shown, and Jayamohan destroys documents exposing the secret India-ISIS deal, which is framed as classified.