A stone wall at the periphery of a village somewhere in Karnataka guards a dangerous mystery. Yet, four generations of women from the headman's family - helpless and spirited, headstrong and weak with desire - have a wayward fascination with it. And with Annaiah who comes, some say, from across the wall.Tradition and subversion coexist with superstitions and the slow advent of modernity in this powerful novel where time is a wilful beast and the gods walk among us.