This is the last thing Helen, a young, impetuous Californian, wants to hear from her Sikh lover, Tej, whom she is determined to marry against all opposition. After the initial shock, however, Helen's innate optimism reasserts itself and she carries on with her preparations to follow Tej back to India, a country she has known only through history books.

During the long voyage to India by ship, the various fears she has managed to suppress begin to gnaw at her: How will she cope with the other wife, will Tej's family consider her an interloper and, most of all, will the huge and unfamiliar land awaiting her prove too much for her?