A seventeenth-century woman defies the constraints of her Puritan upbringing to forge an unconventional life in Mughal India, while a modern-day researcher uncovers her story through the pursuit of a legendary diamond. Hannah Easton, born in the American colonies, navigates the rigid social structures of her time by traveling to India, where she eventually becomes the Salem Bibi, the consort of a Hindu raja. Her narrative is mirrored by Beigh Masters, a twentieth-century asset hunter whose investigation into a historical gem leads her to reconstruct Hannah's life. The novel utilizes a dual-timeline structure to explore the intersection of personal identity, cultural exchange, and the persistence of history across centuries.

This novel is characterized by its ambitious scope and its focus on the fluidity of identity across disparate historical eras. The narrative structure suggests a deliberate attempt to bridge the gap between colonial history and modern investigative curiosity. Readers likely find the contrast between the rigid Puritan setting and the vibrant, complex world of the Mughal court to be the central tension of the work. The prose emphasizes the intellectual and emotional labor required to reconstruct a life lost to time, positioning the act of historical inquiry as a transformative experience for the protagonist.