The year is 1942, and many people in India yearn for their country's independence from the rule of the British crown. To that end, a man named Mahatma Gandhi, a well-known and well-respected lawyer, called on each Indian family to provide one person to join his freedom movement.
The novel follows a ten-year-old girl called Anjali, who fears that her father will be the one who joins Gandhi's movement, threatening his safety and his life. But Anjali is surprised to learn that her mother, not her father, will be joining Gandhi's ahimsa (or non-violence) movement which aimed to remove the British from their role as rulers of India.
In an effort to conform to Gandhi's movement and make a difference in removing the British, Anjali and her family - like many families across India - make radical changes. For instance, they get rid of their foreign-made clothes and start to wear homemade clothes to hurt the British financially. Separately, the family also gives up some of their most expensive and cherished possessions.
The family also begins to associate with members of different castes - particularly members of the "untouchable" caste. This practice, which many in India would have considered one of the worst things a person could do, forces Anjali to rethink her entire life and how she treats people. After all, for the movement of non-violence to succeed, everyone will need to band together and forget their prejudices.
Anjali is crestfallen when her mother is ultimately arrested because of her role in Gandhi's movement. But she is determined to continue her mother's role in the movement - as small as it may have been. Anjali works hard to see the end of the movement and the end of British rule - something she ultimately succeeds in seeing.
