Like Salt straddles two divergent timelines: the immediate aftermath of the September 11 bombing in New York and an alternative “ecotopian” universe of the 1950s where ecology and alchemy form the bedrock of a society that derives value from bees. The film’s protagonist Hala, an Afro-Arab science wizard, is propelled from one timeline to another in search of her disappeared mother and must navigate the complexities of her new environment.