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The major conflict of the novel is Darius versus his depression, or more specifically, Darius’s internal struggle with the insecurity and misconceptions about how others feel about him that are partly a result of his depression. What Darius wants more than anything is to feel like he belongs and to be loved exactly the way that he is. Darius feels like an outsider for several reasons. His sci-fi interests don’t align with those of the popular kids, or as he calls them, the “Soulless Minions of Orthodoxy.” Another reason is that Darius is a self-described Fractional Persian: he is neither fully Persian nor fully American, so he belongs entirely to neither of his parents’ cultures. Most important, Darius feels like an unworthy disappointment to his ultra-masculine father, Stephen Kellner. The relationships most damaged by these misconceptions are the ones between Darius and himself and between Darius and Stephen. Because Stephen also struggles with and takes medication for depression, he and Darius have a symbiotic bond in the novel. Only when Darius’s relationship with Stephen is healed can Darius’s relationship with himself heal. However, at the beginning of the novel, the only time Stephen and Darius spend together is the hour in the evening when they watch Star Trek together. Darius feels it’s the only good thing they have in common.
The defining incident that sets the plot in motion occurs when Trent and Chip vandalize Darius’s bike so that he can’t ride it home, spurring a reluctant Darius to call his dad for a ride, which forces Stephen and Darius to spend more time together. They aren’t enemies, but there is a definite rift in their relationship. Darius feels like his father couldn't possibly understand what his life is really like, and thus feels disconnected from his father, and, in turn, from himself. Stephen seemingly confirms Darius’s projection when his first response to Darius’s distress over his bike being vandalized is to suggest that Darius probably hasn’t understood the situation with Trent and Chip correctly. Darius takes this to mean that his father is unwilling to take his side or to give him the benefit of the doubt. Thus, when a brief confrontation with Chip at school results in his favorite bag being ripped, Darius misses that Chip is genuinely remorseful about the bike and the bag. His assumptions about what Stephen thinks and feels bar Darius from seeing the situation with any kind of objectivity. The entire situation makes Darius even more anxious and defensive because the loss of his bag, which Darius blames on Chip, requires Darius to borrow a bag from Stephen for the trip to Iran. Foreshadowing what transpires next in the novel, Darius finds Stephen’s messenger bag awkward to pack and difficult to carry, and he resists the task until the discomfort he experiences forces him to adjust.
In Yazd, Babou’s declining health forces Stephen and Darius to spend even more time together, and to their forced proximity are added the pressures of international travel, extended family dynamics, and cultural barriers. The trip to Iran aggravates the already strained relationship between Darius and Stephen, and another generational layer and male authority figure now appear in the form of Babou. The relationship between Babou and Stephen is as fraught with misconceptions as the one between Darius and Stephen. Witnessing this, however, grants Darius the ability to see his dad in a new light. By seeing how Babou treats Stephen, Darius learns to empathize with his father and to consider that perhaps they are not so unalike.
In the midst of all this family drama, another story emerges. Darius forges a new friendship with Sohrab, whose father is in prison, helping Darius realize how lucky he is to have Stephen. Through this relationship, Darius also sees that he is not the only person with father issues, normalizing his experience with his dad and making him feel less othered.
At the midpoint of the story, Babou drives the entire family to see the city of Persepolis built by Darioush the Great, where Babou shows Darius the grand achievements of his namesake. Yet Darius is less proud and more overwhelmed with the expectation to be great like Darioush. He also reiterates his worry that his parents are disappointed that he has not lived up to the legendary reputation of the Persian king.
Later, Babou’s cognitive decline comes to the fore as he gets lost on the way home, paralleled in some sense by the cultural decline he frequently observes. Babou admits to Darius that Darius and Laleh will never be 100% Zoroastrian, a rare moment of vulnerability when Babou voices his greatest fear aloud: that he and his legacy are fading away.
The experiences that follow—the Nowruz celebration, Darius’s growing relationship with Sohrab, and sight-seeing around Yazd—serve to build Darius's appreciation for Iran and its Persian culture. As Sohrab and Darius grow closer, Stephen and Darius drift further apart, mostly because the one good thing Darius still has with his dad—their Star Trek nights—is now being infringed on by Laleh. Sohrab helps Darius see his own worth, which is why their fight triggers Darius so deeply. It plunges Darius into a low point of his depression. He becomes self-destructive, running through the streets barefoot. Only Stephen, who understands Darius more than he realizes, can help him out of this.
The novel’s climax occurs when Stephen tells Darius not to cry, and Darius finally opens up and tells his dad how he feels and what he truly believes his father thinks about him. Darius’s ability to be honest about his feelings spurs Stephen to do the same, and he opens up and tells Darius how much he loves him. Darius finally asks for the truth about why his dad stopped reading him bedtime stories, and Stephen explains he was struggling with depression and suicidal ideation. Revealing this truth heals the broken relationship between father and son. In the final scenes, Darius says he doesn’t feel like he has changed in any significant way, yet his classmates and teachers comment on the differences they see in him. Darius is also able to be more honest about his feelings with his father, and Stephen is able to offer Darius advice without trying to control his choices. While Darius no longer needs rides from Stephen, they continue to spend time together, showing how far their emotional bond has come.
