Eighty-year-old Ma slips into a deep depression after the death of her husband. Despite her familys cajoling, she refuses to leave her bed. Her responsible eldest son, Bade, and dutiful, Reebok-sporting daughter-in-law, Bahu, attend to Mas every need, while her favorite grandson, the cheerful and gregarious Sid, tries to lift her spirits with his guitar. But it is only after Sids younger brotherSerious Son, a young man pathologically incapable of laughingbrings his grandmother a sparkling golden cane covered with butterflies that things begin to change.

With a new lease on life thanks to the canes seemingly magical powers, Ma gets out of bed and embarks on a series of adventures that baffle even her unconventional feminist daughter, Beti. She ditches her cumbersome saris, develops a close friendship with a hijra, and sets off on a fateful journey that will turn the familys understanding of themselves upside down.

Winner of The 2022 International Booker Prize.