The story is set in 1962, the time of Sino-India war. It revolves around a widowed teacher named Ritu who is transferred to Koronga, a small Assamese village. The school here was destroyed by fire ten years earlier. Ritu takes on the challenge of rebuilding the school and starts campaigning among the villager. Ritu manages to build a school. It starts functioning under a large village-tree. Then comes a supposedly 'son of the soil' who, having lost his job there, wants to take over the school. When Ritu fights back against the threats and even physical assault, the man brings his ruffian friends and sets fire to the school house. She has to return with a heavy heart. However she is comforted by the promise of the inhabitants of reconstructing the school so that no one can suppress the spark of knowledge.