On the cusp of his 42nd birthday, suave Bombay psychotherapist Farhad Billimoria makes a farewell parade around his city with Zelda, his beloved vintage Maruti. Recently divorced, Farhad has realized that at his age it is impossible to find love in Bombay and is leaving for the greener romantic pastures of America. As he wanders, Farhad's mind crackles with bittersweet memories, dreadful puns, even a new form of psychotherapy modeled on clouds. But is love finally about to bloom for Farhad in Bombay?

Elsewhere in Bombay, Rabi finds himself pinned in a small suburban apartment as caretaker to two cranky old Brahmins, Eeja and Ooi. Rabi comes from the remote Cloud people of eastern India, a sky-watching tribe who thrill to the play of their god Cloudmaker, and who are menaced by the takeover of their sacred mountain by a mining company. Rabi's mentor Bhagaban has taken it upon himself to lead their cause—a project for which his parents Eeja and Ooi have little empathy. As Bhagaban directs the forward march of democratic resistance and Eeja and Ooi reassert a golden Indian past, will Rabi have to relinquish the delicate self bequeathed to him by the Cloud people?

Clouds is a story about earth and sky, love and friendship, language and power and a grand, prismatic portrait of modern India in all its tumult and glory.