Handsome anesthesiologist Neel is sure he can resist his family's pleas that he marry a "good" Indian girl. With a girlfriend and a career back in San Francisco, the last thing Neel needs is an arranged marriage. But that's precisely what he gets. His bride, Leila, a thirty-year-old teacher, comes with her own complications. They struggle to reconcile their own desires with others' expectations in this story of two people, two countries, and two ways of life that may be more compatible than they seem.

Frances, Jay, Lali, and Vikram meet as students at UCLA. They came to the United States from India, eager to achieve success and riches for themselves and their children. Frances and Jay marry; the rest separate after graduation. Twenty-five years later, Vikram invites his old friends to his mansion in Newport Beach to celebrate his son's graduation from MIT. As their reunion nears, Frances, Jay, Lali, and Vikram each must confront where life in America has taken them. Has America proved to be the land of their dreams? A novel of cultural contrasts and surprising revelations, The Invitation...