With the help of Lillian Gordon, a woman who helps Jasmine assimilate to life in America, Jasmine finds herself in New York, where she lives with Professor Devinder Vadhera, her deceased husband's former teacher. Upon her arrival at Vadhera’s home, Jasmine soon realizes that her exclusion from American life appears to be beginning yet again. As a result, she attempts to separate herself from all that is Indian in an effort to continue to make progress in her American life rather than falling back into the confines of her Indian past.