When India fought its first war of Independence in 1857, the military towns across the state rose against the gross injustice of the British. Enraged by her degraded condition, Azeez-un - a courtesan who had traveled from the cultural Lucknow to the gritty city of Kanpur just to be independent - decided to turn against the British. She starts out as a spy, entering at parties and passing information about her British patrons to the rebels, sheltering the rebels and even actively participating in the planning of the uprising.