Raman was considering giving up sign painting (the business was sinking to new levels of shoddiness in the town) when he meets Daisy of the Family Planning Centre. Slender, high-minded, thrillingly independent, Daisy has made up her mind to be modern and is now dedicated to bringing birth control to the people.

In such circumstances, Raman's mounting, insistent passion coupled with Daisy's determination to disregard the messy, wayward concerns of the heart, can only lead to conflict.

R. K. Narayan's magical creation, the city of Malgudi, provides the setting for this wryly funny, bittersweet story of love getting in the way of progress.

"Since the death of Evelyn Waugh, Narayan is the novelist I most admire in the English language" – Graham Greene