The tale launches with Lin’s arrival at the Mumbai International airport.
Having escaped a 10-year sentence for crimes from
a maximum-security Australian prison, he flees to Mumbai. Once there, he meets an Indian guide named Prabhakar, who finds him food, lodging and charras, and takes him to the tourist spots in the city. On his first day, he meets Karla, a Swiss lady with whom he falls in love at first sight. She invites him to Leopold’s, a restaurant which she frequents with her friends. Here, he eventually befriends Didier, Ulla, Letitia,
Modena,
Maurizio, Vikram and Kavita. Soon, he forms a close bond with Prabhakar, who offers to show him the dark side of Mumbai. Thus, Lin is exposed to child slavery, slums and poverty. Prabhakar then takes Lin to his village, where Lin is witness to Indian village life for six months. It is here that he is named ‘Shantaram’ by Rukhmabai, Prabhakar’s mother. By the time he returns to Mumbai, he is fluent in Marathi and Hindi. On his way back, he is robbed of his possessions. With no money, an expired visa and a fake passport, Lin is forced to move to the slum where Prabhakar resides. On his first day there, a fire breaks out. Having had first-aid training, Lin helps many casualties, thus, earning the status of slum-doctor. Here, he befriends Johnny Cigar and Qasim Ali, the slum head. For a living, he facilitates dealings in drugs and currencies between foreigners and black-market dealers. Ashamed of living in a slum, Lin avoids Karla. Khader Khan, the under-world don, hears of Lin and meets him. Both develop a father-son relationship. Abdullah (Khader’s escort) and Lin become as brothers to one another. Khader supplies medicines to Lin for his make-shift clinic at the slum through a medicine black-market run by lepers. Karla visits Lin at the slum to ask him to help free her friend, Lisa, from Madame Zhou, a powerful lady in charge of a place for foreign prostitutes. Lin agrees. He pretends to be an official from the American embassy, and frees Lisa. Meanwhile, he confesses to Karla that he loves her, but Karla rejects him. Lin visits Khader often, who asks him to take Tariq, his nephew, to the slum for a couple weeks, to teach him English and show him the lifestyle of the poorest. During this time, he also saves Hassaan Obikwa, a powerful man in the African ghetto. A cholera epidemic strikes the slum. Karla works alongside Lin for a week to tend to the sick and dying. Ulla asks Lin to meet her at Leopold’s. There, he is picked by the police and taken to prison, where he is tortured for months. Eventually, Khader pays his bail; however, his true identity is now revealed to his friends and Khader. Lin, anxious to know who imprisoned him, suspects Ulla, who disappears from the city. Karla is also missing. Khader trains Lin about the under-world businesses, and Lin starts working for him. He rents an apartment. Ulla finds Lin and tells him Karla is in Goa. She tells him that Modena, her lover, and Maurizio are in some trouble, and she clarifies that she didn’t conspire to send him to prison. Lisa moves in with Ulla. Lin finds Karla in Goa; however, she maintains that she does not love him. She asks him not to return to Mumbai; but when she fails to provide a reason, Lin leaves her and returns. Karla disappears from Goa. Lisa and Ulla kill Maurizio when he attacks them for money that he feels Modena has left with them. Modena, whom Ulla had seen being attacked by Maurizio, is presumed to be dead. Lin, Abdullah and Hassaan help them get rid of his body. Meanwhile, Prabhakar and Johnny Cigar get married. Vikram, after much wooing, wins Letitia’s heart and marries her. Lin helps Lisa work in collaboration with Bollywood, finding foreign actors to fill in minor roles. Lin’s life is suddenly stormed with the deaths of Abdullah and Prabhakar. Abdullah is shot in an encounter with the police. His body goes missing. Prabhakar dies in a road accident. Lin goes to an opium den, and dopes for a couple months. He is found there by Khader and Karla, who bring him back. Nazeer, Khader’s bodyguard, helps Lin recover. Khader takes Lin via Pakistan to Afghanistan, Khader’s homeland, along with his mafia group. Here, they fight a difficult and bloody war against the Russians. He finds here that this had been Khader’s plan for him from the beginning of their acquaintance, as he needed a foreigner pretending to be American to smooth matters for him. He discovers that Karla works for Khader, and had recruited him for this job. The war kills Khader and many of Lin’s friends in the mafia. He returns to Mumbai with Nazeer. Didier discovers that Madame Zhou was behind Lin’s imprisonment. Angered, he goes to her Palace to take revenge, but finds the palace burnt and Madame Zhou in a devastated state. He is delighted to find Abdullah alive. Lin, Abdullah and some members of Khader’s gang re-establish their gang. Lin takes charge of the under-world passport business. Karla has a new boyfriend, and Lin’s love for her slowly fades. The tale ends with his visit to the slum, where Prabhakar’s wife has given birth to a son they’ve named Prabhu.