Layla and Basil have always been an inseparable unit, siblings who belong together and between whom nothing comes. Until Layla makes a decision that changes everything and that no one understands: she decides to get married. To a man in her homeland, Saudi Arabia. Not a decision made out of love, but out of principle. "Because we are long gone" tells the story of Basil's journey to Jeddah for his sister's wedding. He wants to feel the old closeness one last time. At the same time, his visit plunges him into his own past: into the lovingly quirky cosmos of Saudi relatives, who were never present in his German life yet always lingered in his memory. What drives Layla—a non-religious, freedom-loving young woman—to choose a country where women are anything but free?.