After her husband, Prakash, is killed in a terrorist bombing in India, Jasmine realizes that her life as a widow in the Hindu culture in which she lives will not bring her any type of satisfaction. Rather than allowing this to be her fate, she decides to take action and plans to continue Prakash’s mission by going to America to the Florida International Institute of Technology, where he had obtained admission. Though her brothers, mother, and grandmother all express their shock and disapproval regarding her plan, Jasmine obtains illegal, forged documents that enable her to proceed. Thus, she embarks on a journey towards the unknown land of America, a place that will ultimately bring her more exclusion and exploitation than she previously experienced in India.

Sam Pagliuca