In rural India in the second half of the 19th century, a wealthy devout Hindu dreams that his daughter-in-law is the human incarnation of the goddess Kali — leading him to transform his house into a temple, insisting that the young woman be revered and that she fulfil her role as a living god. As the news spreads, the illusion begins to overwhelm the woman and the people are around her. With this experience that is at once sublime and devastating, and full of details regarding Hindu outfits and life in India, the master Satyajit Ray explores the conflict between fanaticism and free-will.