The story is told mainly through Mr Byrd‘s point of view, a middle aged English man traveling through India after a breakdown in the UK. In the remote mountain town where the English had found respite from the heat in the plains, Byrd also finds an idyllic quiet home in the bungalow near the presbytery. He fills his days driving around town with Jamshed, having dinner with the padre& teaching his young protege Priscilla. But … .