Koly's family is very poor, and they don't have enough for everyone in their family to eat, so Koly's family find a husband for Koly. But the family to which has Koly's first husband, lied about how old he was, and he was actually really sick. They only marr the boy off because they need the money from the dowry so that they can go to Varanasi so that Hari can soak in the Ganges River. But Hari died at Varanasi. When they got back, Sass treated Koly badly. Even though Sassus was kind to her, and taught her he how to read and write, he was teaching all day and didn't get home until late at night. One day Koly's sassur died. Then Koly's sass said that they were going to her brother's house, and take a trip to Vrindavan. At Vrindavan, sass left Koly there. Raja, who was a rick shaw drive, helped her find a home. At the widows home, where Koly was living, Maa Kamala helped Koly find a job. At the widow's house, Koly becomes good friends with another widow named Tanu. Koly's job, like Tanu's, is stringing marigold, and her boss is Mr. Gorind. One day Mrs. Devi, the rich lady who fund the widow's house, saw how good Koly was at making quilts. So she brings her to Mr. Das, who makes fine saris. Mala, who was a worker at Mr. Das', keeps stealing stuff, like a spool of gold thread, and one of the finest saris that was made of silk, and was supposed to be a wedding sari. As this is going on, Raji takes Holy to a river ,where he calls it 'their place'. At the end of the book, Rahi asks Koly if she would marry him, and even though, Raji goes back to the farm, before Koly says yes, she-in the end-say yes, and moves to the farm with Raji taking her work with her.