In turn-of-the-Century Calcutta, Police Medical Examiner, Dr. E.B. Charron, feels protective of Delia, the Bohemian, meddlesome, only legitimate child of the aristocratic Moran family who might be more than merely harmlessly eccentric. An incipient alcoholic widow with a small, poisonous stepson, Delia maintains subversive relationships among the demimonde and infuriates her oddly possessive maid.