Mira Nair concocts a fascinating picture of Mina (Sarita Choudhury), an Indian woman whose father (Roshan Seth) pines for his native Uganda, where his family lived prosperously until the evil Idi Amin took power. Transplanted to rural Mississippi, the family struggles to make ends meet by running a string of motels, but they don't yet feel at home. When Mina falls for an African American entrepreneur (Denzel Washington), complications arise.