Set in the dying days of the Indian Raj 'The Children of Kali' follows the lives of Caroline Gorst, an outsider married into the Raj, and Pritti an orphan of the Amritsar massacre. Their lives become intertwined when Pritti, with her brother and sister, seek a brief refuge in outhouses by Caroline's bungalow. The effect of the meeting on the reluctant memsahib and the orphan child is profound and continues to Partition and beyond.