It was first published in the United States in Voice by Hyperion in 2009, and later in Hamish Hamilton by Penguin Books India in 2010.

A group of 9 people are trapped in the visa office at an Indian Consulate after a massive earthquake hits an unnamed American city.

Among them are two visa officers, Malathi and Mangalamon, on the verge of an adulterous affair; Jiang, an elderly Chinese-Indian woman and her gifted teenage granddaughter Lily; Cameron, an ex-soldier haunted by guilt; Uma, an Indian-American girl bewildered by her parents' decision to return to Kolkata after 20 years; Tariq, a young Muslim man angry with the new America; and an enraged and bitter elderly white couple named Mr. and Mrs. Pritchett.

Divakaruni drew inspiration for the book from her personal experience of being trapped in a traffic gridlock while trying to flee Hurricane Rita with her family, and witnessing the wide range of reaction exhibited by the people surrounding her.

She has revealed that she adopted a structure like The Canterbury Tales to open nine different worlds to the readers while maintaining dramatic tension using the 'current' plotline of the earthquake.