Priyanthi Silva is born in Sri Lanka into a peaceful, loving Sinhalese family, but into a turbulent country dogged by religious and political tensions. She and her brother Hemantha grow up in Araliya Gardens, a tropical paradise full of orchids and mango trees. Their neighbours are Christian Tamils whose gentle, handsome son Niranjan is Hemantha's best friend. When Priyanthi is older, the two families spend a holiday together, and by the time they return home Priyanthi and Niranjan have fallen in love. But it is an unthinkable match to both their families, and to a society riven with ethnic divisions. On a hot July day that year the streets of Colombo explode into frenzied violence as mobs begin to hunt and murder Tamils and burn and loot their property. The dark secret Priyanthi and Niranjan have been hiding leads to betrayal and tragedy, as an inferno of hatred overcomes their peaceful neighbourhood.