Papalal, a Hindu temple painter rescued a four year old distraught Muslim girl from a bomb blast site in India and fostering her ever since. But, Muslim groups have been pressurizing that the child be handed over to a Muslim orphanage so she can be raised a practicing Muslim, while the local Hindu groups are strongly opposing the idea of a Hindu family raising a Muslim girl. When Papalal refused to give her up, a social boycott was enforced upon him, He was soon denied work in temples and the family struggled to make ends meet. The story of Papalal's family is a disturbing account of the freedom with which religious chauvinism and bigotry operate in India, which has secularism for an ideal.