Father Alphonse, a minor magician, chose not to go with the French when they quit Mayyazhi, in North Kerala. He stayed back to smoke hash and convert, to schoolchildren’s delight, stones to colourful candies. His daughter, Elsie, goes astray as only women can, through sex—the awful daring of a moment’s surrender. Later, Alphonse’s wife too would be unfaithful, in a carnal alchemy of betrayal.