At their annual tea party reunion, an Indian princess (Madhur Jaffrey), long divorced and living in self-exile in London, and her father's ex-tutor, Cyril Sahib (James Mason) view home-movie footage of their former life in Royal India. While the recollections of the Princess are selective and hazily nostalgic, Cyril's memories about their common past and her father, the Maharaja, have left him disillusioned and appalled.