Henry Sugar is a wealthy man in his forties. He has an inflated sense of his own appearance and personality. He and his friends, who are also wealthy, devote themselves to their own pleasure and to increasing their already expansive fortunes. One rainy day, while staying with a friend in London, Henry is bored and begins looking around his friend’s library. He comes across a slim volume—a handwritten account by Dr. John F. Cartwright on a man named Imhrat Khan whom Cartwright claims can see without his eyes. The story shifts into Dr. Cartwright’s voice as Henry begins to read.

Cartwright, a surgeon at Bombay General Hospital, meets Imhrat Khan one day when the man enters the hospital and asks the doctors to cover his eyes as thoroughly as possible. Khan explains that he has the unique ability to see without using his eyes. Cartwright covers Khan’s eyes and asks him to tell how many fingers Cartwright’s colleague is holding up. Khan repeatedly announces the correct number. Cartwright and his colleague thoroughly cover Khan’s eyes, sealing them first with dough and then wrapping Khan’s entire head with thick cotton wool. When the doctors finish, Khan steps off the operating table and walks out of the hospital with ease.