India cherishes the river city of Varanasi, for it is here on the burning ghats that the bodies of the devout dead are cremated and their ashes scattered over the Ganges. Then, as thousands of pilgrims bathe in the holy waters, a lethal chemical spill swirls down the river, consuming the flesh of all who come in contact with it. More than a thousand people die in agony. Who is responsible?

As Bombay attorney George Sansi pursues the case, he amasses more and more evidence implicating the invincible, rich, and unscrupulous magnate Madhuri Amlani. Sansi braces for a vicious legal battle--but the showdown in court is only the opening skirmish in an all-out war involving cover-ups, blackmail, and assassination at the highest levels of power. . .