Both the protagonist and the eponymous dressmaker of Khair Khana, Kamila is a young woman who finds her civil rights suddenly curtailed by the arrival of the Taliban in Kabul. Amid a fierce civil war, the Taliban arrive in the city a few days after Kamila graduates from high school, scuttling her ambitions of going to college. All of a sudden, what was once a relatively progressive city in the Middle East is under a strict rule of law. Women are forbidden from leaving their homes without male accompaniment and are forced to wear a veil at all times. Despite this, Kamila rises from the adversity and—by the end of the book—delivers speeches in Washington DC and helps to raise many other women up from poverty.

Kamila achieves this through determination and hard work. As the authority figures in her life are forced to leave the city, Kamila realizes that she has to seize control of her life and ensure that her family has enough money to buy food. She thinks hard and decides to become a tailor, even though she does not know how to sew. Though she quickly learns, Kamila does not become a success through her needlework alone.