Tariq. Anupreet. Margaret. As different as their Muslim, Sikh, and British names. But in one moment, their futures become entirely dependent on one another. While the rest of India anxiously awaits the upcoming partition that will divide the country into two separate religious states, eighteen-year-old Tariq focuses on his own goal: to study at Oxford. But for a Muslim born and raised in India, there is no obvious path to England -- until Tariq is offered a job translating for one of the British cartographers stationed in India, tasked with establishing the new borders. Margaret, the cartographer's daughter, has only just arrived in India. But already she has discovered it to be hot, loud, and dull. She can't go anywhere alone for fear of the riots and violence. Eager for a distraction, she finds one in Tariq. But it's Anupreet, another member of the staff, who has truly captured Tariq's eye. She's strikingly beautiful -- but she's a Sikh, so not someone Tariq should even be caught looking at. And yet he's compelled to....