In post 9/11 United States, Aadid and Adela, both from Middle Eastern ethnic backgrounds, work together on the night shift at a laundromat/dry cleaners. He is secretly in love with her, he, to himself, referring to her as his Josephine - as in the first wife of
Napoléon Bonaparte - for the role she played in Napoléon's life as opposed to the alternative role of his second wife, Marie Louise. In this context, he chooses Napoléon as a reference for a specific reason. Aadid and Adela's relationship from his perspective is shown against the backdrop of the small yet meaningful task they perform together each night as part of the laundromat's free service: cleaning, drying and folding American flags.
—Huggo