"The sudden mysterious death of their guest Tulsi, a fifty-year-old divorcee from Minneapolis on a visit to India, shatters the tranquil life of Rajan and Gayatri, a middle-aged couple based in Chennai. On her previous visit, two years back, Tulsi and Rajan, long attracted to each other, had a sexual encounter and Tulsi had come on this visit to seek forgiveness from Gayatri. During the two years, a relationship had developed between Tulsi and John. The relationship had broken-up in a tangle of expletives when they recently met at Minneapolis. John, though based in South Africa, was in Chennai when Tulsi passed away through suspected cyanide poisoning. Also, John has a history of reacting violently to a break-up in his younger days. Is Tulsi's death the fallout of the break-up? The Subramaniams are a neighbour of Rajan and Gayatri Varma. Padma Subramaniam is afflicted by paranoid schizophrenia. This ailment causes her to feel persecuted by another person towards whom she reacts violently. She is another suspect.