Spunky prepubescent poet Harriet, the oldest girl in an English family of five children, tells the story of her first love along the banks of a holy river in India in the years following the end of World War I. Her father is in charge of the local jute press and her mother and nurse Nan attend to the children, keeping them amused with games and toys at the "Big House." When Capt. John, a veteran who lost a leg in the war, comes to visit his cousin and Harriet's neighbor, Mr. John, all the children, including Mr. John's teenage daughter Melanie and their wealthy eighteen-year-old neighbor Valerie, are excited by his presence. During the Diwali Festival of lights celebration at the Big House, Valerie piques the captain's interest by flirting with him throughout the evening. Later Mr. John, a widower and English expatriate, speaks with Melanie, his only child by his Indian wife. Melanie has just returned home from her western school and is expected to marry wealthy local Anil, her intended fiancé since childhood. Melanie questions her English heritage and, though she wants to embrace Indian traditions, refuses to see Anil. Mr. John tells her that Anil can provide for her better than he can, but Melanie does not want more. Meanwhile the proud captain, having come to India to escape the pity he receives because of his handicap, meanders the banks of the river and contemplates his choices in life as a man with only one leg. When he takes a rest, Harriet, who has been surreptitiously following him through the bazaar, shows him her secret book of poems. The captain is impressed, but Valerie soon distracts him with a confession of her fondness for him and Harriet storms off. On the Big House grounds, Bogey, Harriet's only brother, and his best friend Kanu climb the garden wall to chase a snake they have spotted in the roots of a banyan, a sacred tree where Hindu women leave milk to pray for the blessing of a son. Meanwhile Mr. John tells his daughter that by being a child of both Indian and Western heritage, he fears she will be unable to assimilate into either culture. Smiling, the philosophical Melanie replies that someday she will find her place. Harriet, filled with words about the magic of the river and its people, decides to win the captain's heart through her poetry. One evening she tells her version of the story of Krishna to the captain and Valerie: A peasant girl is in love with a local boy but has to follow tradition and wed her father's choice instead. On the wedding day she discovers that her father chose the same man and through her joyous Bharata Natyam dancing and love for the bridegroom, she transforms him into Krishna and herself into the Lady Rada. As Harriet closes the story, Valerie grabs her secret book and reads romantic passages about the captain aloud, humiliating Harriet. Valerie then engages the captain in a game of toss but he falls and, refusing help from everyone, decides he must leave India. Later Harriet catches Bogey again seducing a snake with his flute, but distraught about the captain's imminent departure, does not stop the boy. At Mr. John's, when the captain insists that he is a normal man and can go anywhere, Melanie asks, "Where will you find a country of one-legged men?" He assumes Melanie dislikes him, but she explains that it is not him she dislikes but herself and runs to the grove. Though Melanie hopes that the captain will find her, it is Valerie who catches him first and the two kiss while Melanie and Harriet watch. Valerie begins to cry in the captain's arms, lamenting that he has made all of the children's romantic dreams real and killed their childhood. Harriet runs to her mother, who explains how Harriet's body is changing for womanhood, but Harriet is inconsolable. Later Harriet remembers Bogey and finds him by the garden wall, dead from a cobra bite. After the adults attend the funeral service, Mr. John makes a toast to children, thankful that one escaped before taboos and wars destroyed his innocence. That night at dinner in the Big House, Harriet is horrified when everyone acts if nothing has happened and admits that she knew about the cobra. At twilight she runs away in a riverboat, but by nightfall the captain has found her at the fisherman's campfires down river. He soothes her, professing that with each person you meet you either die a little bit or are born again. As they get up to leave, the captain asks Harriet for help up, reminding her that he has only one leg. Many months later, among the ruckus of the Hindu spring festival, letters from the captain arrive for Harriet, Valerie and Melanie. However, all are distracted from the faint memory of the romance when they hear a cry from the other room and Harriet's mother gives birth to a baby girl.