Shambhu is a child who glows, discovered in a cowshed in the Town of the Temple Beyond Time. The deity of the Temple is the enchanting Bridegroom, and Shambhu senses there must be a reason why he can talk to him. He traverses the history and mythology of the sacred town from centuries past, when it withstood sieges by Malik Kafur and hostile takeovers by a Chola king, plots for the control of the temple economy, to its turbulent politicised present. In conversations with the Bridegroom, the past and the present, castelessness and religion, philosophy and metaphysics come together. And a ceaseless river of Time connects them all. Shambhu's friends, Cauvery, who senses Pauses in time and space, Amrita, the mysterious landlord's daughter who is turning to porous stone and sleepy Kannan whose dreams are prophetic links across eras are his companions in his quest. Trouble and the Town erupt when Amrita is infected with his luminescence.