As the sun sets on the British Empire, the British rulers of the Indian subcontinent prepare to divide the region into two independent states: India and Pakistan. For the diverse native population, freedom comes at a cost and ethnic violence sweeps the region. On the eve of Pakistani independence in 1947, Arastu Jan, a troubled and isolated native servant to a British master, takes a dose of poison and finds himself with ten minutes to record the confession of his brief lifetime.

Tom's Restaurant is a diner located at 2880 Broadway (on the corner of 112th Street) in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Frequented by artists, musicians, comedians, students and faculty of nearby Columbia University, it has been owned and operated by the Greek-American family of Minas Zoulis since the 1940s. Tom's Restaurant was the locale that inspired Suzanne Vega's 1987 song "Tom's Diner".

A cross-episodic melange of macabre folktales supposedly penned by folklorist Jonathan Mallory Sinus.