The Flooded Desert is a story of Devika, a middle class traditional Indian woman who finds it impossible to protest even when the consummation of her marriage fails to take place and the conspiracy hatched by her in-laws makes her life miserable. Her journey in the new world, where the trouble torn situation in the Punjab lands her, brings new possibilities for her. Her own compulsions and the temptations of the life around mark her growth into an altogether different woman. The startling ways of life that she experiences and the ones that she finds around her build a contrast between the world of the traditional women and the life of the modern liberated ones. The psychological realism trapped in social mores and obsessions explores the dynamics of relationships. The novel takes the readers back to the world of 1980's to trace the changes in the material and the social reality. The impact of these new developments comes out the way women react in the new scenario. It reveals the helplessness of the powerful social forces to check the process of the margins coming to the center.