The principal character, Kamila, is the sole heir to the hereditary seat of a sufi saint located in a riverine area in the rural hinterland of Pakistan. Her liberal outlook and lifestyle are the outcomes of an urban upbringing and westernized academics. The final wish of her long-suffering mother that she observe familial duties by maintaining and upholding the centuries-old family shrine that has a subcontinental following, requires Kamila to marry the leading landowner of the region. The tensions and conflicts inherent in such a situation are the well-springs of the narrative which plays out against European, American and Pakistani backdrops.