Set in contemporary Rajasthan, Trishna meets a wealthy young British businessman Jay Singh who has come to India to work in his fathers hotel business. After an accident destroys her fathers Jeep, Trishna goes to work for Jay, and they fall in love. But despite their feelings for each other, they cannot escape the conflicting pressures of a rural society which is changing rapidly through industrialisation, urbanisation and, above all, education. Trishnas tragedy is that she is torn between the traditions of her family life and the dreams and ambitions that her education has given her.