When Adela and her elderly companion, Mrs. Moore, arrive in the town of Chandrapore, India, they quickly feel trapped by its insular and prejudiced British community.

Determined to explore the "real India," they seek the guidance of the charming and mercurial Dr. Aziz, a cultivated Indian Muslim. But a mysterious incident occurs while they are exploring the Marabar caves with Aziz, and the well-respected doctor soon finds himself at the center of a scandal that rouses violent passions among both the British and their Indian subjects.