It is the last year of the nineteenth century in the village of Chevathar in Southern India. Solomon Dorai, the headman, is desperately trying to hold together the fraying ends of village life at a time of huge social and political unease. When violence finally erupts, it has disastrous consequences for Solomon and his family.

Three generations of Dorais come and go in the village by the sea. There are Solomon’s sons: the dazzling, athletic Aaron and the studious Daniel, both determined to make their mark on the world. And there is Daniel’s son, Kannan, cast out of the paradise that his father creates on the bones of the old Chevathar...