Mahesh Dattani's Final Solutions explores the relationships between mothers and daughters by exploring the expectations and the tensions between the generations.

The play opens with Hardika, who has just gotten married even though she is quite a young girl. She really has no choice in the matter. Her parents decide for her, and she feels like she is in prison. Hardika has dreams of being a singer, but she will never fulfill them, because of the expectations of her parents and in-laws. Women are to act in a particular way, and that is that.

The play then jumps ahead many years. Hardika is now a grandmother. Her granddaughter, Smita, has all kinds of modern ideas that Smita's mother, Aruna (Hardika's daughter-in-law) does not agree with. For one thing, Smita, who is Hindu, has Muslim friends like Tasneem, Javed, and Bobby. Aruna scolds and insults Smita for associating with these young people, but Smita defends herself. She cannot and will not see the harm in it.

Aruna is devout and strict in her Hindu beliefs and practices, but her daughter challenges them. Smita wants to think in new ways, and she questions old traditions that keep people apart and even lead to violence. Bobby proves Smita right when he is respectful to Aruna and to the idol in the family temple. But the audience gets the feeling that the tension between mother and daughter will remain, for neither one fully listens to the other.