The tale commences with the birth of Sampath Chawla, the unlikely and inadvertent hero of Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard. His arrival coincides with the end of a severe drought in Shahkot, India. As Sampath is born, a large airplane carrying food and supplies crashes into a tree near the Chawla residence, heralding a wave of prosperity for the famine-stricken town. Fast forward about twenty years, and the narrative resumes with Sampath unhappily working a monotonous job as a mail sorter at the local post office. Tensions reach a peak when Sampath loses his job after staging an impromptu cross-dressing striptease at his boss's daughter's wedding.

Disgraced and confined to his home, Sampath decides to flee and finds solace in the branches of a guava tree in a deserted orchard on the outskirts of town. Initially, his family and the townspeople believe he has lost his mind. However, in a moment of clever self-preservation, Sampath, who had spent his time at the post office reading other people's mail, divulges select secrets about his detractors, convincing them he possesses clairvoyant abilities. Before long, Mr. Chawla recognizes the commercial potential of having a holy man in the family, and soon the guava orchard becomes a popular destination on the spiritual tourism circuit. A genuine hullabaloo ensues, as drunken monkeys, skeptical journalists, family members, and officious government officials all attempt to manage the escalating chaos resulting from a bewildered young man's retreat into a fruit tree.