Every morning, eight-year-old Nadi wanders somewhere between the conscious and the unconscious, to meet her dream-etched Shadow Bird. A second character unfailingly follows—the mysterious Timekeeper, who has a clock fitted inside his heart. But one morning neither Shadow Bird nor Timekeeper arrive, and Nadi ventures alone into the deep, mysterious woods in search of them.
An impoverished Dalit couple from rural India hits the headlines when it is exposed that they have sold their child. The couple acquires national infamy. An embarrassed minister deputes a local government officer to investigate the case. Despite a painful truth, the child is restored to her mother, and the accused is jailed for illegal trafficking. But that is not really the solution. The aftermath is the failure of humanity.
