Babu is a naked infant terror, an outrage to his hate-filled village at the furthest end of nowhere. In a world ruled by demons, spirits and greed, he finds enlightenment in a whirlwind of life and death. Babu suffers starvation and earthquakes, unaware of his true value and his enduring effect on all those he encounters in his philosophical pilgrimage and his constant quest for food and kindness.

Cursed by birth and clad in grubby loincloth and turban, Babu is a fresh breath of unwashed air among superstitious and ignorant villagers far from civilisation. They beat him and treat him like a criminal imbecile. Babu rebels against their authority and the inequality he finds in poverty around him, and all of life's bad luck. He survives by stealing food and foraging in the wilderness. Driven by hunger and festering ambition Babu longs for a better life. He sees himself as the loneliest man in the world with rats and dogs his only companions.

He has a secretive relationship with the local schoolteacher; a modern man with a pencil behind his ear. He develops an enduring friendship with the boozy priest Baba, a holy man banished in disgrace from the distant Great Monastery. Baba encourages Babu's search for wisdom in the twisted world of magic and evil.

Despite everything turning against him, and despite the disadvantages of his humblest station in life, Babu finds wisdom, he finds work, he finds love, he finds a home, he finds wealth. He rises above all adversity. He is transformed from a sneaky childhood thief born as an orphan in the wilderness, to achieve greatness as a philosopher of celebrated renown.