Kaju, age 21, of Indian nationality, has lived in the United States since she was three, and returns to India to visit her family and get to know the place where she was born. She meets Kabir, an upper social class student, whose family looks with disdain on Kaju's naïvete in trying to discover a "real India". Undaunted, Kaju visits shanty towns, crowded markets, and cafes along the New Delhi road. In one particular shanty town, she experiences a strange sensation of dèjá vu. Soon after, she begins to have nightmares. When Kabir discovers that Kaju is adopted, he understands her mysterious personality. At this time, Kaju's adopted, single mother, Keya Roy, a social activist in Los Angeles, arrives with no warning in New Delhi. She is shocked to find that Kaju has visited shanty towns. But mother and daughter are to discover that their families were involved in a tragedy that occurred twenty years previously in the capital of India: a massacre of thousands of people of the Sikh faith, a religion founded at the end of the fifteenth century. This discovery will influence the present for both women.