A period drama, the film is based on Ismat Chugtai's most celebrated story "Lihaaf" (published 1942). The film inter weaves the plot of same sex relationship between Begum and her masseuse and the trial that Ismat underwent after being slapped with a case of obscenity on publishing the story. The film raises themes of homosexuality and freedom of speech that our society is grappling with even today.