In 1932 Alice Whelan, fleeing a faithless husband in England and passing herself off as a widow, arrives with her baby in Simla, India, where her brother Ralph is private secretary to the Viceroy. On the train she meets the missionary Dougie Raworth and his waspish wife Sarah with their young son. A little boy is lifeless on the railway track, poisoned for being a half caste, and Dougie and his assistant Leena save him, calling him Adam.
