Set in Sagramanda, a city of one hundred million, this is the story of Taneer, a scientist who has absconded with his multinational corporation's secret project code and who is now on the run from both the company and his father. Depahli, the fabulously beautiful woman from the "untouchable" class, would die for him, just as surely as his father would like to kill him for shaming his very traditional family with such a relationship. Chalcedony "Chal" Schneemann doesn't want to kill Taneer, if he doesn't have to, but it wouldn't upset him terribly much if it came to that, and he'll stop at nothing to recover the stolen property from the company that pays him very, very well to solve big problems discreetly and quickly. Sanjay Ghosh, a poor farmer-turned-merchant in the big city of Sagramanda, would like to help Taneer unload his stolen items for the thirty million dollars his 3 percent fee is worth. Jena Chalmette - the crazy French woman pledged to Kali - simply wants to kill for the glory of her god, and she's very good at it. Chief inspector Keshu Singh would like to put this sword wielding serial killer away as quickly as possible before the media gets ahold of the story.

Then there's a man-eating tiger that's come in from the nearby jungle reserve, just looking for his next meal.