The London of 1895 – at Oscar Wilde, Gilbert and Sullivan operas, an seductive West end actresses. Nikesh Mitra is only nineteen when he steps into this dazzling world of excitement and glamour to study law. Away from the initial rumblings of India’s freedom movement, he falls madly in love with Ruth Lavine, a ravishing stage artiste.

Their affair becomes the grist for many Victorian gossip mills. But, reckless and caught in the first throes of passion, little does Nikhil know that his life will soon change dramatically. Half a century later, Maya, an English journalist, discovers a spiritual pamphlet on the underground in London.

Mesmerized, she decides to come to India – a land with which she shares a tenuous link. Violent riots blaze across the country as Maya arrives in Bombay in 1947. A series of events unfold as Maya confronts the mysteries of her past and unravels a family secret that has haunted her all her life.