The story is about a girl who grows up almost like an orphan in a joint family of two brothers and their families. She has lost her mother (a sister of the brothers) in childhood and her father is a habitual gambler with a bad luck. She develops romance with one of the two cousins in the house.

The emergence of the educated middle-class. Shawkat’s life as a bohemian artist perfectly illustrates the life of an artist in Dhaka during the 60s. When Shawkat’s father loses his job, and eventually dies, the reality of living in a capitalist society as an artist dawns on him