The film stars Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Schwartzman as three estranged brothers who agree to meet in India a year after their father's funeral for a "spiritual journey" aboard a luxury train.

The cast also includes Waris Ahluwalia, Amara Karan, Wallace Wolodarsky, Barbet Schroeder, and Anjelica Huston, with Natalie Portman, Camilla Rutherford, Irrfan Khan, and Bill Murray in cameo roles.

In India, a businessman fails to catch his train, "The Darjeeling Limited," as it pulls out of a station; he is beaten to it by a younger man, Peter Whitman.

Francis, the eldest, has recently survived a near-fatal motorcycle accident, leaving his face and head covered in bandages, and wishes to reconcile with his brothers on a journey of spiritual self-discovery.

With the help of his assistant, Brendan, Francis draws up a strict itinerary for the trip and confiscates his brothers' passports to prevent them from getting off the train too early.

The train takes the brothers through the countryside and to various Hindu and Sikh temples though tension builds as Peter and Jack become angered with Francis' controlling behavior.

Along with Alice, Peter's wife, the brothers stop to pick up their father's Porsche from a repair shop on their way to the funeral.

Back in the present, the brothers arrive at the airport, but they suddenly decide to rip up their tickets and go visit their mother.

They reach the convent, where their mother Patricia is surprised but overjoyed to see them, and Francis coyly admits that his accident was actually a suicide attempt.

[5][6] The film opened across North America on 26 October 2007 and in the UK on 23 November 2007, in both territories preceded in showings by Hotel Chevalier.

The site's consensus reads: "With the requisite combination of humor, sorrow, and outstanding visuals, The Darjeeling Limited will satisfy Wes Anderson fans.

But it is also a treasure: an odd, flawed, but nonetheless beautifully handmade object as apt to win affection as to provoke annoyance.

"[15] The Christian Science Monitor critic Peter Rainer said "Wes Anderson doesn't make movies like anybody else, which is sometimes a good thing and sometimes not.

"[16] New York Magazine critic David Edelstein said that the film is "hit and miss, but its tone of lyric melancholy is remarkably sustained.

Levy also said "after reaching a nadir with his last feature, the $50 million folly The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which was an artistic and commercial flop, Anderson could only go upward.