Ashton Pelham Martyn grows up as an orphan in the Indian court of the Maharaja of Gulkote in India, but when he is 11 years old he is sent back to my parents' home country, England, to receive military training. When he returns to India as an officer at the age of 19, he finds himself torn between the two worlds that are both part of his identity. He is given the task of accompanying a bridal procession and in this way meets his old friend Koda Dad and former girlfriend Anjuli. Ash and Anjuli fall in love, but she becomes the bride of Rana of Bithor and does not want to abandon her foster sister Shushila, who was also married off. Ash resigns from the army, which is attacked by the army of enraged Afghans. As a civilian, he returns to Mardan, where he learns that Rana of Bithor is dying and will be burned with his two wives. Together with Koda Dad he leaves for Bithor to save the life of his great love Anjuli.