The setting is the New Delhi of 2014. The narrator is 1997 born Asmita Kaul, whose grandfather was killed and aunt was abducted during the 1990 Kashmiri Hindu genocide, and whose three generations continue to suffer, twenty-five years later.
The protagonist’s grandmother has schizophrenia. Her father is a neurosurgeon but because of that illness, he becomes deeply interested in psychiatry. The protagonist’s mother, an MBA from Harvard, owns and runs a large corporate hospital. Asmita, siblingless and friendless, feels lonely and depressed, and makes two suicide attempts, while her grandmother has made three. The story thus gets strong inputs from medical sciences, such as psychology, psychiatry, and neurology.
Asmita is writing an essay on pain and finds it unfinishable. But to complete the essay, she visits a leprosy colony and learns the value of pain in everyday life. She is forced to look at pain from many perspectives, including her childhood when avoiding pain was her
most important objective.
While her mother wants her to qualify for MBBS entrance, Asmita starts avoiding studies and goes out to kill time. During these outings, she meets Nirupam, a Kashmiri boy of her age, and the two make a trip to Agra to academically discuss many aspects of human sexuality. She meets Babloo, a small boy, and her mother Manju and learns the effect of poverty on them. She visits Bhoomika’s Haveli and Asola wildlife sanctuary to have long discussions with her only friends. Her life takes a violent turn when she investigates the reason for her father’s interest in psychology.