Ashoke Ganguli is a Bengali engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who has moved to the United States with his new bride, Ashima. As they leave their lives behind in Calcutta, the city in which they grew up, the Gangulis start adapting to their new lives as a couple. This struggle comes off harder for Ashima, who cannot accept the lifestyle of the Occidental world. With their son being born, the Gangulis move ahead to the next trying chapter of their lives. Their son is given two names - a nickname Gogol, at the time of birth, after the Russian author Nikolai Gogol, and a formal name Nikhil, as per the Bengali tradition of having two names. Gogol and his younger sister strive to come to terms with the truth that his parents are fixated on - that they don't belong to where they live. Despite having immigrated to the States years ago, the Gangulis try desperately to preserve their Indian values in their children. However, Gogol's coming-of-age is more American than Bengali. The emotional distance between the parents and the child, Gogol's resentment for his name, the handling of his personal space, are all experimental and western. Ashoke and Ashima's tryst in dealing with the changing world around them and the transforming childhood of their kids, the likes of which they never experienced, forms the heart of the story. Lahiri's first novel brings out the stark contrast in cultures and generations through the eyes of the Gangulis. The novel has also been adapted into a movie with the same title.