Red Earth and Pouring Rain combines Indian myths, epic history, and the story of three college kids in search of America. This captivating narrative includes the monkey's story of an Indian poet and warrior and an American road novel of college students driving cross-country.

An Indian student, home from college in the U.S., shoots a monkey who turns out to be the reincarnation of a poet. Subsequently, the two take turns telling their stories. The poet recalls epic deeds of glory in fighting the British Raj, while the student narrates tales of materialism and boredom in America.

In this astonishing tale, the gods Hanuman, Ganesha, and Yama descend on a house in an Indian city to vie for the soul of a wounded monkey. A bargain is struck: the monkey must tell a story, and if he can keep his audience entertained, he shall live. The result is a tale of nineteenth-century India: of Sanjay, a poet, and Sikander, a warrior; of hoofbeats thundering through the streets of Calcutta and the birth of a luminous child; of great wars and love affairs and a city gone 'mad with poetry'.

Woven into this tapestry of stories is a second, totally modern narrative, the adventures of a young Indian criss-crossing America in a car with his friends and his eventual return to his homeland.