In rural India, a young woman named Lila and her mother Vinata, a temple dancer wed to a Hindu god, find themselves on the fringes of society, struggling to make ends meet. Shyam, a low-caste village boy with dreams of becoming a sculptor in the city, asks Lila to model for him. Lila agrees, even though she knows that if they are discovered, both their lives will be in jeopardy.