The novel narrates a story set in Delhi through the eyes of a Malayali youth, named Sahadevan, who lands in the capital after securing a job in a travel agency. On his arrival in the capital, carrying high hopes and aspirations, Sahadevan is welcomed by a shocker when he learns that China had attacked India. It was a historical jolt for the Left movement. This along with his first sight of old Delhi, which in those days looked like an ordinary village with plenty of wheat and cauliflower fields forms the first chapters of the novel. In the following chapters, several historical incidents such as Indo-Pak Wars of 1965 and 1971, The 1975 Emergency, assassination of Indira Gandhi and the subsequent anti-Sikh riots, and their impact on the people of Delhi have been tellingly narrated. The novel ends with a dream sequence in which a dying Sahadevan sees hundred thousands of beggars storm the Parliament.