At seven years old, Jyoti Vijh’s future of widowhood and exile was foretold by an astrologer. Twelve years later, the same young woman, now known as Jane Ripplemeyer, resides in Elsa County, Iowa. Acquainted, but unmarried to small-town banker, Bud Ripplemeyer, she takes care of her adopted son Du, as well as handicapped Bud, while she is pregnant.
Jane liked to think of her and Du similarly. Jane and Bud adopted Du when he was fourteen. Before that, he had been held at a refugee camp with his family, but soon after, his parents were murdered. Du eventually escaped, but his brother had not, leaving him alone, with nowhere to go. Eleven months after Du had lived with Jane and Bud, Bud was shot by Harlan Kroener, a farmer who disagreed
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Prakash struggled with his job, always unhappy with the tasks his boss was assigning, so the couple decided to go to America to have a fresh start. Unfortunately, it would be difficult to get the two of them over there, since Prakash was using the visa illegally. To celebrate for Prakash’s sake, the couple went shopping.
As they walked out of the saree shop, Jasmine spotted two men coming toward them, one was Sukhwinder. They had quickly put a bomb on the street Prakash and Jasmine were on and bolted. Prakash died that day on top of Jasmine. Sukhwinder had meant to kill her.
In grief as a widow, Jasmine decided she wanted to fulfill her trip to America, managing to get illegal documents and passports, faking her age as nineteen. The airplanes she took were shady and slightly unsafe, they were not usual airlines most people take. Sadly, Jasmine’s first night in America was not spent well at all. She was raped by the captain of the plane, known as Half-Face, in a motel he had driven her to after they had landed. To escape from being harassed and possibly killed, Jasmine stabbed Half-Face to death and bolted. Heading to Tampah, she walked, to fulfill her mission of burning her husband’s suit at his future college, if he would not have