In a small, tribal district town of Central India in 1929, Francis Massey is the 'English Type Babu' at the Deputy Commissioner's office. Massey believes that because he is Christian and can speak English, he is a cut above other Indians and not very different from the white sahibs he serves. For a man of lowly birth, Massey has risen to a dizzying height. On the other hand, he acknowledges no realistic limits to his own free spirit. Whenever the real world fails him, he improvises - boldly, imaginatively. Alas, the unsmiling, implacable machinery of the Raj has no room for Massey Sahib, the travelling salesman, road foreman and entertainer. Right up to the bitter end, Massey believes that Deputy Commissioner Adam Sahib will step in and save him.

A recently widowed forest ranger in India strikes up an unlikely relationship with a woman he finds lost and alone in the woods.