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. Specifically, she “finds herself stifled by the inertia of this home for it was completely isolated from everything American” (Sharma 34).

Jasmine, the novel's protagonist, is born in Hasnapur, India. She is the fifth daughter of her family to be born, which means that she will not have any dowry money for her future marriage. Also, Jasmine's discussion of her life in India mainly focuses on the gender discrimination she experiences there, which proves to be a major theme for the entire novel.

As the novel comes to a close, we learn that the Patriots, a rebel group, brought June and Day here so that they would be safe from harm's way. After the actions that the two had taken in this novel, they would need the shelter and safety from being away from the main city, for now they are both wanted.