The film begins in high drama as 6-year-old Mina (Vaibhavi Hankare) saves her newborn sister, Sita, from being drowned as an unwanted female, thereupon taking full responsibility for her care.

[1] This melodramatic opener is suddenly revealed as a film-within-the-film, an autobiographical opus that Mina (Nandita Das), now a Bollywood superstar, is making with her director husband (the self-same Sanjay, now played by Subodh Maskara).

But little Sita has grown into a cold, remote scientist named Paula (Aina Clotet), who is totally unaware that she was even adopted, much less that she is of Indian descent.

But a tense discussion with her adoptive parents and Mina's extensive documentation lead her to reluctantly entertain some curiosity about her roots and venture into an Indian video store.

There, she meets Prakash (Naby Dakhli), who introduces her to her sister's films, and whose openness and quiet persistence, combined with Paula's sudden cinematic immersion in a vibrant culture, gradually wear down her defensiveness.