 Over a basin of milk used ceremoniously to drown a newborn girl, a narrator says, "Thousands of baby girls are either aborted or drowned at birth every day in India. Dowry is the cause. Where will this crime lead us to?" In an imagined near future where there are virtually no women, a high-caste village man pays dearly for a wife for his five adult sons. It s the first wedding in the village in 15 years. The bride is Kalki, who puts her faith in the youngest son (the only family member who is not a brute), then in her father, and then in a servant lad. Her desperation worsens as family and village turn against her. Caste tensions rise. Is there any hope for her?