An orphan named Laila lives with her grandfather in Lucknow (an ethnically diverse city in India). The family is wealthy, and Laila's aunts, Abida and Majida also live in the house. Majida's 17-year-old daughter Zahra also lives with them.
Laila dreams of a Western education and lifestyle, the same passion her father had, but in the wake of her parent's death, she obeys the Muslim customs of her family. Then one day, the grandfather dies, and the estate is inherited by Uncle Hamid, who rules the house with an iron fist.
We flash forward. Laila has moved away from her uncle and gone to college. She falls in with a group of rebels who protest the British government, and her cousin Asad is among them. She doesn't find herself particularly interested in those problems, but they surround her. When her uncle asks her opinion, she doesn't share one. For this, she is ostracized by her uncle for being uninvolved.
Then she meets Ameer, a poor family friend. She falls in love and marries him against his family's wishes. When Ameer dies, Laila is left alone. When India gained independence and split from Pakistan, Ameer died in the violence against Muslims living in India.
