Shibnath is released from prison after eleven years of incarceration for murdering a British officer.

Shibnath has given his all for his country, including eleven years in prison. He also gave up part of his sanity for his country, since three of those years were spent in a mental ward. He was a hero to many for his passionate anti-colonialism, and now it is 1953 and he has just been released from prison. His friends expect him either to continue as a political firebrand, or to shrug off his experiences and get on with life. What no one expects is that he will be so broken by everything that has happened that he will sink into a well of passivity and despair.—Swarup Basak