India, 1947. Umber Singh, a Sikh, is forced to flee his village due to ethnic cleansing with the coming of independence and partition. He decides to fight fate and build a new home and life for his family. After his wife has two daughters, Umber is overjoyed at the birth of a son, Kanwar. But when Kanwar marries Neeli, a girl of lower caste, both families are forced to confront a painful hidden truth, in this exquisitely wrought tale.