In today's interconnected global village, Iran remains a mystery to much of the rest of the world--especially to those living in the United States and the west. While the country is often synonymous with rogue behavior on the world stage, there is also another, rarely seen side to this nation of 80 million, including being home to the greatest number of Jews in the Middle East outside of Israel, and having the largest transsexual population in the region, among other unexpected surprises.

The Heartbeat of Iran takes us on a journey into everyday life in Iran, where we meet the diverse people who make up the country's delicate socio-cultural, political, and religious mosaic. Through textured portraits of regular Iranians--from a blind Sunni environmental activist to the gay son of a general, from Iran's first female race car driver to a young rabbi who is training the future generation of Jewish rabbis in Israel's enemy state--The Heartbeat of Iran reveals a people whose dreams and fears mirror that of millions of others worldwide, and who yearn to join an international community that often views them through the blur of a hostile political fog.