This story told by Jhumpa Lahiri stars a young woman name Miranda. Miranda is an American that has had very little contact with Indian people outside of her co-worker, Laxmi, and a child hood acquaintance. However, things in her life change when she meets an Indian man at a department store and begins an intimate relationship with him. They go on romantic dates and make passionate love together, but this guy, Dev, is married. As a result of past choices that Dev has made and current choices Miranda is making, she finds herself having an affair, and in love with a married man. The relationship that Dev and Miranda are in parallels a situation that Laxmi's cousin is currently in, however she is unable to see the situation for what it really is until Laxmi's cousin's son Rohin shows her indirectly.
Laxmi and her cousin go out and leave Miranda to watch Rohin. During the day Miranda and Rohin go through a series of activities such as drinking coffee and guessing games. During the course of the day Rohin asks her to try on a silver dress that he found in her closet. This is a dress that Miranda had purchased to wear on a night out with Dev, but she never got the opportunity. When she puts on the dress Rohin calls her sexy and Miranda begins to explore further into his use of the word.
When Rohin called her sexy he gave Miranda a definition of the word "loving someone you don't know". He used this term to describe the woman that had taken his father away from him. His father had fallen in love with someone that he did not know, using his terminology, someone sexy. This made Miranda realize what she was doing and the harm that it could cause. Miranda felt that the relationship that she had with Dev was perfect till the feeling of guilt came upon her as she witnessed first hand the effects of a broken marriage.
Once she made this realization it was clear to her that what she was doing was not romantic or something to be admire but something that shouldn't be done.