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A BREATH OF FRESH AIR begins on December 3, 1984 as Anjali waits
for her husband Prakash to pick her up at the train station in
Bhopal, India. He is running late. Suddenly there is a gas
explosion at the Union Carbide factory only a few miles away from
the train station, which spews out gas fumes for miles, killing or
physically harming anyone that comes in contact with it. Hundreds
die or are taken ill. Anjali immediately feels a horrible pain in
her lungs as she tries to breathe. She cannot fathom what is
happening to herself and to those around her. She loses
consciousness, and wakes up to find herself in a hospital
bed.

Anjali miraculously lives to tell the tale, but her relationship
with Prakesh has been gravely wounded like her lungs. Anjali feels
that if he had come to pick her up on time, she might have avoided
the fumes that nearly killed her. She lives, but because of the
fumes, one of the results is a horrible debilitating asthma that
stays with her for the rest of her life. Their relationship
flounders and they end up divorcing much to the consternation of
her parents.

Years later, Anjali is married happily to Sandeep, her second
husband, who is a professor, who she loves after 15 years of
marriage. They have a son, Amar, who is their pride and joy. But
there is one problem --- because of the effects the gas explosion
had on Anjali, Amar was born with many birth defects and doctors
did not think he would live. He’s had numerous surgeries to
fix his ailing heart and lungs, but these surgeries are only
temporary relief for this poor boy, who is destined to live a short
life. Despite his ill health and his inability to live the life of
a normal healthy child, Amar seems happy enough, enjoying each day
as it comes.

While she has a happy marriage and a son that she loves, Prakash is
always in the back of Anjali's mind. She blames him for the ill
health of Amar.

One day, Prakash and Anjali accidentally find their way back into
each other's lives. It ends up that they are both curious about
each other after all these years. Questions start to occupy them,
which soon affect their marriages. Sandeep starts to doubt Anjali's
love for him, thinking that she has loved Prakash all along. Anjali
herself becomes confused and she doesn't know why she is having
these feelings. She knows she does not love Prakash, but if so, why
is she so fascinated by him after all that she blames him for with
the accident? Prakash starts to feel guilt at letting go of a
marriage that could have worked out after all.

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR is not the story of the gas explosion that
occurred at the Union Carbide factory in India, as I had originally
thought when I read the flap copy. Instead it is the story of how
this major tragedy changed the life of one naive girl, and helped
open her eyes to the real world.