1930, India. Flora Crewe, a noted Bloomsbury Group poet, undertakes a journey through India for her health. Free-spirited, she unsettles most people she meets, but secretly captivates Nirad Das, a handsome Indian painter.

1980s England. Flora’s sister, Mrs Swan, is visited by an American biographer trying to uncover exactly what took place on the trip – and then Das’ son appears in her garden with a painting of Flora by his father – a nude...