In 1923, thirty-five-year-old Big Ammachi becomes pregnant after years of miscarriages. Her sixty-three-year-old husband, increasingly taciturn and hard of hearing, shares a rare intimacy on the verandah and confesses he never learned to read. She delivers a son, whom she names Philipose, and feels renewed hope.

Soon after the birth, the thamb’ran is struck by severe headaches with vomiting; when they subside, he is left with facial droop and deafness in his left ear. He beams at his son but grows anxious and altered. Meanwhile, Philipose shows signs of the family’s Water Condition, seeming to enjoy the disorienting sensation of immersion rather than fear it.

The thamb’ran begins odd behaviors—scraping at the earth as if seeking buried coins, mistaking their beloved elephant Damodaran for an intruder, and growing suspicious and irritable. At dinner he accuses Big Ammachi of deliberately spoiling his favorite dish, wounding her with uncharacteristic harshness. Baby Mol, normally inseparable from her father, withdraws in confusion.

That night, tenderly assisted by Big Ammachi to drink water, the thamb’ran goes to sleep and dies quietly. Damodaran trumpets a lament, and the extended community—relatives, craftsmen, Nairs, and pulayar—gather to honor the man who shaped Parambil. Shamuel is devastated, taking a final leave at her insistence.

In the weeks after the burial, Big Ammachi hears nightly scraping in the courtyard and speaks to her husband’s lingering presence, offering apology and forgiveness. In his silence, she recognizes his enduring love, even as she faces life at Parambil with Philipose, Baby Mol, and the memory of the steadfast man she married.