Plot
Adela Quested is sailing from England to British-ruled India with Mrs. Moore, the mother of her intended bridegroom, Ronny Heaslop, Mrs. Moore's son from her first marriage. Ronny is the City magistrate in Chandrapore, and Adela intends to see if she can make a go of it.
The ladies are disappointed to find that the British community has separated themselves from, and alienated, the native Indian population and culture with a growing Indian independence movement in the 1920s. They are encouraged when the local school superintendent, Richard Fielding, introduces them to the eccentric elderly Hindu Brahmin scholar Professor Narayan Godbole. Mrs. Moore meets, by chance, another Indian, Dr Aziz Ahmed, a local doctor and widower who is surprised by her kindness and lack of prejudice. Anxious to please Mrs. Moore and Adela, Aziz offers to host an excursion to the local Marabar Caves, and plans it with the help of his friends. In the meanwhile, Adela explores the foreign surroundings, yearning to see something of the "real India" instead of staying within the cushioned and isolated British community in Chandrapore. At a garden party intended to bridge the gap between the British and native Indian communities, Mrs. Moore berates her son Ronny for adopting the common British attitude of alienating Indians, debating the role of British rule in India.
When the garden party initially explores one of the caves, Mrs. Moore suffers from claustrophobia and the noise from the large entourage echoes exponentially inside the caves, showing that the size of the party should be limited. Mrs. Moore encourages Adela and Aziz to continue their exploration of the caves alone with one guide, while she goes to get some rest.
Adela and Aziz reach the caves at a higher elevation some distance from the group and, before entering, Aziz steps away to smoke a cigarette. Adela enters one of the caves on her own, lights a match, and inexplicably begins to cry. Aziz returns to find Adela has disappeared. Shortly afterwards, he sees her running headlong down the hill, disheveled. She is picked up by the doctor's wife, Mrs. Callendar, and taken to the Callendars' home. Adela is bleeding from cactus needles and delirious. Dr. Callendar medicates Adela with a hypodermic syringe.
Upon his return to Chandrapore, Aziz is startled to find himself accused of attempting to rape Adela inside the caves and is jailed awaiting trial. The incident becomes a cause célèbre. Mr. Fielding, who has befriended Aziz, insists he is innocent. Mrs. Moore also firmly believes Aziz did not commit any offence and departs India for England. Seemingly enjoying her passage at sea, Mrs. Moore suddenly suffers an apparent heart attack and dies.
In court, Adela is questioned by the prosecutor Mr. McBryde, who is stunned when Adela replies that Aziz never entered the cave, where the supposed attempted rape took place. It becomes clear to Adela that her earlier signed accusation of attempted rape was false, so she breaks down and recants. Aziz is freed and his innocence celebrated by the local population, though he begins to deeply resent the British for having been humiliated at court. Adela is abandoned to her own devices by the British except for Mr. Fielding, who assists her to safety at the college. She plans to return to England at the earliest moment. Aziz finds a new job in another Indian state away from Chandrapore; he opens a clinic in the lake area near Srinagar, Kashmir.
Meanwhile, through Adela, Fielding has married Stella Moore, Mrs. Moore's daughter from her second marriage. Aziz eventually reconciles with Fielding, and Aziz writes to Adela asking her to forgive him for taking so long to come to appreciate the courage she exercised when she withdrew her accusation in court.
