Seventeen-year-old Lakshmi leaves everything behind to escape her dusty village and her abusive marriage. After a few detours, he ends up in Jaipur, the bustling pink city of the 1950s, where he gradually gains the trust of the city's richest women as a henna artist. But while his high-caste guests entrust him with their most dreaded secrets, the henna artist, who is becoming increasingly popular due to his special motives and wise advice, is afraid to keep his own.
One day, however, something happens that could jeopardize everything that Lakshmi has worked so hard for over ten years: her husband shows up and with him Radha, Lakshmi's thirteen-year-old sister, whose existence she never knew existed.
In addition, Lakshmi will soon receive an assignment from the royal family that could lead to her rise, or even her downfall...
The henna artist takes you to the world of India, which has just been liberated from British rule, which is both lush and fascinating, but at the same time harsh and merciless. It paints an authentic and exciting picture of a woman's struggle for self-realization in a society balancing between thousands of years of traditions and the modern world.