Plot Summary

2003. After careful consideration, Kim Baker, a news copywriter, decides to leave the relative comfort of a New York desk job and serious boyfriend Chris to accept the assignment to work for three months as on-camera reporter in war torn Afghanistan, as her news agency is looking for anyone within their ranks to fill immediately the empty voids overseas. Her only experience of being in such an environment is going through hostile zone training a few years earlier. Immediately upon her arrival in Afghanistan, she realizes that she is ill-prepared emotionally for this assignment, not only enduring the dangers of the war itself, but also the conditions of everyday life, including largely been seen by men as only a "piece of ass" and a distraction despite her being considered average looking back home and not being overtly sexual, and being an individual with a small bladder who is nonetheless told to stay hydrated at all times. She is largely assisted in navigating this new life by Tanya Vanderpoel, a fellow female western correspondent, and Fahim Ahmadzai, her Afghan translator guide. As time goes on, Kim finds that she not only may have a specific and important voice within the press corps, but that she may be losing touch with her life back in the States for good or bad. In addition, she will have to decide how much she is willing to risk, not only for herself but that for her colleagues, to get that next important story. She also has to figure out how much of what she does truly is her, and how much is being as she and the other western press corps members state is being in the "Kabubble". What may also affect her life is how much the war in Afghanistan is overtaken by other world events for which the American public is wanting information, and thus if Afghanistan has a specific time span in her life regardless of how much she may want to stay to tell what she sees as its important stories.—Huggo