Ram is betrothed to a girl he has never met, who lives in a small village twenty-five kilometers from Ram's own village in India. Ram rides with his father and the village's landowner on a grand carriage. The three of them, along with Ram's other male family members, process towards Ram's bride. Ram's mother died when he was little — Ram is the youngest in the family. Ram's father works for the village landowner and collects taxes from the villagers. As they travel, the village landlord asks Ram what his betrothed's name is. Ram cannot remember, and his father refuses to supply it. Ram's only prior experience with a woman was with a girl from his village named Mala — Ram and Mala tried unsuccessfully to have sex. As he travels, Ram thinks about his future wife and is excited by the prospect of being with her physically. Twenty kilometers into their journey, Ram and his procession come to a river. The villagers who live by the river, whom Ram and his family refer to as 'river people,' greet the procession as it reaches the riverbank. Ram's brother approaches the villagers and inquires about crossing, but they inform him that the bridge is unsafe for horses and carts. The landowner insists that Ram cannot leave behind the carts and horses, for he will appear a poor man to his new wife without them. He tells Ram's father to cross the river on horseback at its shallowest point. The landowner and Ram will be pulled across the river by the river villagers, who have created a contraption made out of logs onto which they can drive their carriage. The villagers have pulled Ram and the landowner most of the way across the river when Ram vomits over the side of the carriage. Suddenly, the logs lurch beneath them, and Ram and the landowner leap for the shore. Ram sees that one of the men who had helped pull them across the river has lost his hand — Ram's vomit caused a commotion below which resulted in the man's injury. Ram's father pulls a wad of bills out of his pocket and cruelly gives them to the villagers. The injured man lies on the ground, bloody and nearly unconscious.