Pervyy roman Rohintona Mistri, prinesshiy emu mezhdunarodnyy uspeh.
1971 god. Indiya vedet vooruzhennoe soprotivlenie protiv Pakistana, ne priznayuschego nezavisimost bengalskih narodov. Gazety i televidenie navyazyvayut politicheskie lozungi, razobschaya lyudey. No menshe vseh im verit trudolyubivyy bankovskiy sluzhaschiy i predannyy semyanin Gustad Nobl, chey privychnyy uklad zhizni neumolimo rushitsya.
Ego syn buntuet protiv tsennostey ottsa, drug okazyvaetsya vtyanutym v set obmana, serezno zabolevaet ego malenkaya doch. . .
Avtor ne raz postavit geroya pered trudnym zhiznennym vyborom, podnimaya vazhneyshie dlya chelovechestva voprosy voprosy semi i druzhby, nravstvennosti i gumannosti.