Inspector Ghote of the Bombay Police finds himself investigating a murder in a small, provincial town. Ghote's mandate is to investigate a death from fifteen years earlier, but he has not simply to find a murderer. He is told to pin the crime squarely on the town boss, a figure of almost despotic power. Nor is this all. The local holy man has embarked on a fast-to-death against any investigations. So as this Swami sinks nearer to his end, Ghote, in the face of obstruction of every kind, attempts swiftly to find his answer.