A journalist goes to Theeyoor - 'the land of fire' - to investigate the unnaturally large number of suicides and disappearances in the city. After completing this project, however, Theeyoor refuses to leave his consciousness, and he decides to write its history.

This history is told through various documents: the writer's notes, the anecdotes told to him while researching the suicides, Wardha Gopalan's book The History of Theeyoor, information provided by a local newspaper agent, personal papers of individuals, as well as some 'incidents' that the journalist himself imagines.

In N. Prabhakaran's masterful hands - and in Jayasree Kalathil's brilliant translation - history, myth, facts, nature, political events, and everyday concerns of ordinary people weave together into a story that is at once local and universal.