Pre-Independence India, on the cusp of freedom; suspicion, pent-up ire, religious fervor fills the air... and then the unthinkable happens...a dead pig is found at the foot steps of a mosque in Jalalabad, propelling a frenzy of violence that engulfs scores of Hindu, Muslim & Sikh lives in its ravages flames. In spite of the best efforts of the well meaning from the warring communities to salvage the situation, the spark soon morphs into a huge, wild fire that claws into the fragile communal situation. Bestiality prevails as man slays man with all the brutality in him. Tamas, throws light on how communal prejudice can scar generations of lives throwing them into a bottomless abyss of physical and psychological agony recovery from which is slow and excruciating.