Nazneen is born sickly, with a death rattle. The Bengali villagers maintain a vigil around the dying child. Her Aunt Mumtaz wants to take her to the city for treatment, but her grandmother Banesa stands by Nazneen’s mother’s decision to let fate take its course. Rupban believes the child’s surrender to fate will make it stronger. This bears out when on the fifth day, the child chooses life over death by taking her mother’s milk.

Nazneen’s sister, Hasina, is Nazneen’s direct opposite. When she is 16, her “unbearable beauty” is revealed to be a liability when she elopes with the nephew of the sawmill owner.

The scene switches to 1985 London. Nazneen is living with her new husband, Chanu, in Tower Hamlets, a Muslim residential community. She is to spend the afternoon preparing dinner for their first guest, Dr. Azad. This opportunity to prove herself as a wife is hampered by worries over her sister, whose letter brings news of her love marriage and hints of darkness brewing under the surface. As Nazneen ruminates over the question of fate, she has an impromptu visit from her neighbors,

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