Lajja, a young woman from an Indian village in the Punjab, passionately strives to fulfill her life in early twentieth century United States after surviving female infanticide, dowry burning, famine, separation from her youthful lover, marriage to a man forty years older than herself in India and then racist terror from vigilantes and members of the Asian Exclusion League in California. Her determination parallels the background tale of turn-of-the-century Indian intrigues and struggles for dignity and independence from Britain.