1929. At a farm in Punjab, northern India, three girls are married to three brothers in one ceremony. For weeks afterwards, segregated from the men in the china room, heavily veiled, and meeting their husbands only under cover of darkest night, none of the girls is entirely sure which brother is hers. Mehar, the youngest of the three, is determined to find out, and while her efforts lead her into overwhelming love, her story of misplaced identity has tragic, horrifying consequences.

1999. A young man arrives in northern India from the UK to spend the summer with distant relatives. He spends weeks under the merciless sun, in solitude, at the abandoned family farm, with its peeling paint and mysterious locked room.

Mehar, a young bride in rural Punjab, is trying to discover the identity of her new husband. It is 1929, and she and her sisters-in-law – married to three brothers in a single ceremony – spend their days hard at work on the family farm, sequestered from contact with the men. When Mehar develops a theory as to which of them is hers, a passion is ignited that will put more than one life at risk. Spiralling around Mehar’s story is that of a young man who in 1999 flees from England to the deserted sun-scorched farm. Can a summer spent learning of love and of his family’s past give him the strength for the journey home?