Set as a multi-generational family drama taking place against the backdrop of rubber plantations, the novel describes the hunger for social and commercial growth that inevitably exploits the environment.

Rubber, introduced into India as a cash crop, is the alien species that chokes the land and destroys the values symbolized by the traditional Banana tree.

[citation needed] The story traces the rise and fall of the Peruvattar family, rubber plantation owners based in the Kanyakumari Nanjil district in Tamil Nadu.

The last two of Chelliah and Therese's five children still reside with the family - Francis, the grandfather's favourite, is a wastrel; Livy goes to college but lacks morals and compassion.

Dependent on the spiteful family for even minor needs and consumed by guilt and self-pity, Ponnu Peruvattar begs his assistant Kunhi for poison.

Well-known critics and authors like Indira Parthasarathy and Ki Rajanarayanan were part of the prize committee and they commended the work for its theme and depth.

[6] A week after the prize was announced, Vijaya Publications' Velayudham hosted a felicitation event for the debut novelist in Coimbatore, which was attended by many luminaries of the Tamil literary world including Sa Kandasamy and Gnanakoothan.