Several British retirees decide to move to Jaipur, India, to stay in the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, advertised as an exotic retirement home. Evelyn Greenslade, a widowed housewife, must sell her house to pay off her husband’s debts; Graham Dashwood, a High Court of Justice judge who lived in Jaipur as a child, abruptly retires to return there; Jean and Douglas Ainslie, hope to have an affordable retirement, after investing in their daughter’s internet business; Muriel Donnelly, a former housekeeper, decides to have a cheaper hip operation in India; Madge Hardcastle, after several unsuccessful marriages, searches for new romance overseas; and Norman Cousins, an aging Lothario, trying to relive his youth.