A Fine Balance begins with a quote from the novel Le Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac warning the reader not to expect amusement from the pages that follow: The story ahead is one of great misfortune, and the misery depicted is real.

A college student named Maneck Kohlah is riding a train in a large Indian city in 1975. He accidentally drops his textbooks, and they tumble onto two other passengers, Ishvar and Omprakash Darji. After Maneck apologizes, the three men strike up a conversation.

When the train slows unexpectedly, they wonder about the cause of the delay. Someone has committed suicide by throwing himself in front of an oncoming train, a frequent occurrence in the city. After the train resumes its progress, the three men discover that they’re all exiting at the same stop.

Off the train, Maneck asks the other two for directions to his destination, but they protest that they are strangers themselves. When they compare notes, they all realize they’re heading to the same address—the house of Dina Dalal. Ishvar and Om are tailors seeking work. Om is suspicious that Maneck is a competitor for their jobs.