While on an oxcart on the way to Meigudy, India, sixty-year-old Mrs. Fisher sees a small boy dressed in threadbare cloth running after her, and she realizes he is a stray child. She looks away, not wanting to invite the child to get attached to her but pities him. A man on horseback overtakes her cart and asks if the boy is bothering her as he brandishes a bullwhip, but Mr. Fisher tells him not to hurt the boy. Mrs. Fisher tells the man that she has taken in four children during her life and always feels saddened when they grow up and leave. The man asks why Mrs. Fisher is dressed in Indian clothing and riding in a bandy, and Mrs. Fisher replies that she is traveling to Meigudy, where she used to live as a missionary with her husband when he was alive.  When the man leaves, a group of Hindu women begins to block Mrs. Fisher’s view of the boy, which upsets her. They talk about her in Tamil, not knowing she can speak the language too, and wonder why she is wearing a sari and riding a bandy instead of a bus or train. Eventually, Mrs. Fisher begins to speak to the women and explain, but when the women leave to a nearby village, Mrs. Fisher looks around for the boy again. She steps off of the oxcart as the driver lets the oxen graze and sits by a banyan tree. She sees that a Sannyasi, a holy man, is sitting there too, but begins to eat a small meal. The boy appears again, and Mrs. Fisher decides to feed him. He tells her his name is Krishnan and says he is alone.  Mrs. Fisher then returns to the oxcart, and Krishnan follows. Eventually, Mrs. Fisher gives in and lets Krishnan into the cart but tells him not to touch her. She decides that she will bring him to Meigudy and when they return to the city, she will put him in an orphanage. They hit the road again, but a student soon bikes by and asks Mrs. Fisher why she is riding in a bandy, why she is dressed in a sari, and why her son is so Indian-looking. After Mrs. Fisher explains, the student says that missionaries are a “wretched business,” and he believes in complete abolition of all types of bondage that restrict free-thinking. Mrs. Fisher apologizes for disappointing him, and he tells her to leave behind her desire to relive her past as a young woman in Meigudy. As the student departs, Mrs. Fisher thinks to herself that those memories are all she has. Finally, the oxcart enters Meigudy and approaches Mrs. Fisher’s old home. She sees that it feels different somehow, seeming abandoned and dead. She enters the home and sees a plaque she inscribed with the 127th Psalm. When Krishnan touches her arm to tell her he needs to use the bathroom, Mrs. Fisher snaps at him but then immediately regrets it as he cries quietly. She embraces Krishnan and tells him she will tell the story of a young woman who once lived in this house.