Krishna and Ranga are the sons of a widowed servant who works in the Deshmukh household. The four children should never have spoken, let alone forged a friendship. But the bonds they form are intense and dangerous. When they are caught up in a devastating accident, the consequences ripple through their lives and send them scattering to different corners of India. Years later, when violent uprisings tear across the countryside, Vijaya and Krishna find themselves irresistibly drawn back to one another, despite the differences in their class and background. But this is not the India they once knew. Their country is changing, burning from the inside out. Irumi is no longer safe.
