The novel is set in the idyllic village town of Pookaithayoor nestled in a verdant valley amidst hills. It comprises an ancient lake that legend says was dug up by a thirsty Hanuman on his way to Lanka during the era of the Ramayana. Popular folk tales and ballads tell another story of the lake originating from the tears of an adolescent Dalit girl, Neelippennu, who jumped into it to end her life after she learnt of the death of her lover who never returned from his pilgrimage to Sabarimala.
Physically dominating the entire village is the sprawling architectural marvel, Manthoppu Bungalow presided over by the benevolent patriarch, the landlord Padmanabha Pilla, a home from where he distributed largesses to his tenants. Defying social customs and restrictions, he challenges superstitious beliefs held by both the oppressed and elite class. A reformer and Gandhian in pre-Independence India, Manthoppilangunnu, as he is respectfully called, is a compassionate, forward-looking person. As a voluntary protector and dispenser of justice, he undertakes the uplift of the community, sets up the Achutya Vilasam School, ignores savarna caste taboos, and subscribes to liberal ideology.