Punjab in the early eighties. The atmosphere is charged with calls for Khalistan and there is violence on the streets. With stories of carnage creeping in, the ordinary lives of siblings Monty and Minnie, and their cousins Karuna and Michael, teeter on the brink of drastic, inescapable change?and each must find their own way of dealing with it. Monty retreats into silence; Minnie refuses her family?s shackles. Michael seeks relief in riding his motorbike, and Karuna rejects marriage, causing scandal. The Patiala Quartet is a sensitive chronicle of life during political upheaval, of the strength needed to overcome difficulties, and of the choices one must make to survive.