A small prison cell in India holds an eighteen-year-old penniless waiter from a Mumbai slum. But Ram Mohammad Thomas isn't a criminal. He is under arrest for correctly answering twelve tricky trivia questions on the show Who Will Win a Billion? Reluctant to part with the jackpot of one billion rupees, the show's directors bribe the police to arrest Ram, accusing him of cheating--for how else could a poor, uneducated orphan know so much: the name of the smallest planet, global capitols, and diplomatic policy?