Plot Summary:While traveling by train to visit his grandfather in Jamshedpur, Calcutta born, Bengali-speaking Ashoke Ganguli meets with fellow-traveler, Ghosh, who impresses upon him to travel, while Ashoke is deep into a book authored by Nicholai Gogol. The train meets with an accident, and after recuperating, Ashoke re-locates to America, settles down, returns home in 1977 to get married to aspiring singer, Ashima, and returns home to New York. Shortly thereafter they become parents of a boy, who they initially name Gogol, and a few years later both give birth to Sonia. The family then buy their own house in the suburbs and travel to India for the first time after their marriage. The second time they travel to India is when Gogol and Sonia are in their late teens, and after a memorable visit to Kolkata and then to the Taj Mahal, they return home. Gogol falls in love with Maxine Ratliff and moves in with her family, while Ashoke spends time traveling, and Sonia moves to California, leaving Ashima all her by herself. The Ganguli family will be destined to travel to India again soon - this time under very different circumstances - and after all have endured life-changing events.
印度青年刚戈里在火车上捧读一本果戈理的小说，同行的老人建议他出国闯荡，这时火车却发生了事故……大难不死的刚戈里远赴美国求学，后经家人撮合，与美丽的印度姑娘阿什玛（Tabu 饰）喜结良缘，两人遂前往美国生活，然而阿什玛时常为思乡情困扰，刚戈里有感自己的二次生命来自果戈理，于是用这位俄国文豪命名自己的第一个孩子。时光荏苒，果戈理（Kal Penn 饰）成长为健壮的青年，对父亲给自己取名的动机，年青人并不理解。经由一次全家返回印度的旅行，果戈理确定了自己的专业方向，成为了一名建筑师，并有了一名白人女友。在这个第一代印度移民的家庭中，每个成员都要面对文化的差异以及对自身的定位…… 本片根据美籍印度作家Jhumpa Lahiri的同名小说改编。
