A rogue nineteenth century Scottish trader steals tea plants from China to start an empire in India. His dissolute grandson tries to hold together his failing tea fiefdom as post-colonial India tears itself apart. A young Indian woman comes to grips with a contemporary India in which crops are failing, the earth is exhausted and all roads lead to working in a mega-city. Three interconnected stories of the dirty deals, incendiary power and human hands that give us our daily tea bag.