Panchagarh rail station of north Bangladesh is very solitary place. Only two passenger trains frequent the station, daily and there are the wagons that carry stones. Stones are stacked around the station -boulders, quarters, three-quarters, pea-gravels, etc. Wagons full of such stones travel to different parts of the country. The local member and his partner used to dominate the trade. As soon as they get a contract they stack wagons, especially with machine crushed stones. Different regions of Panchagarh -Bhajanpur, Shalbahan, and Jagdal - almost all cultivable lands bear stones, instead of rice. Small trolleys carry them to the railway station. Women and men workers sift and select them and put them in the crushing machines and on to the wagons-of them women workers are more numerous.

Moimuna is one such worker. The story, primarily, revolves around her. She separates the boulders, sifts the stones, puts pea-gravels in a iron-made bowl and onto the wagons. She is a widow. She lives in a room of a dilapidated and abandoned house with her seven/eight year son, Ananta. Today, as usual, she walks along the railway line towards the station with her son and her lunch pack in a bundle. There is a holiday at the school where her son studies. Moimuna sends her son to the house of Kofil, an ailing worker of the railway station, with a can of food from her bundle.

On the other hand, the partner is busy at the tea-stall. The client from Dhaka who wants to buy stones (pea-gravels) can also be seen in the stone-sifting area. The client is slightly upset because he feels that the pre-gravels that he had been supplied, earlier, and is being prepared for him now, were undersized. They slip through the deep tube well filter slots and make them dysfunctional. The partner persuades the client and takes him to the booking master at the station to transport his wares. Kafil's main work is to assist the sub-engineer in supervising the railway tracks. Kafil hails from Sylhet, a district on the other side of the country. He is afflicted by tuberculosis. He also has rheumatic fever. He has been posted to Panchagarh for the last four/five years and fond of Moimuna's son, takes him out for a ride on the motor trolley when he goes out for inspecting the tracks. He also feels some kind of liking for Moimuna.

A few days later when Moimuna returns to work, her colleague, Ambia, says that the labour leader had made queries about her whereabouts. Moimuna knows why the supervisor inquires about her. Moimuna is a helpless woman who has caught the eyes of the labour leader. As helpless as she was, she was not the kind of woman who had sold her soul. She does not pay attention to Ambia and calmly concentrates on her work. Selects the stone, puts the sifted stones in a pot, puts it on her head and walks up the ladder that leads up to the wagon and drains the stones into it. The next day when Moimuna is back at work, the labour leader reprimands her : How dare you send food to Kofil's house, again? A patient of tuberculosis! Blood oozing when he coughs ... his house! Moimuna responds : He adores my son. He is a little unwell now so I sent some food. Why? What's wrong with that? Observing her self-assured response, the labour leader says : I didn't say it was wrong. Your jug, your water: it's your choice, who you want to feed. Somewhat flustered, the labour leader reminds her that he had not yet received a reply to the proposal he had made. Moimuna does not reply and quietly concentrates on her work.

After her work is done Moimuna walks past the railway tracks to her house before night falls. She sees Kofil filling his pitcher from a tube well. Kofil will use it to water the plants in his garden. He invites her to her garden. Moimuna is surprised to see the young gourds and marigold plants of the garden. Watering the plants, Kofil says : I'm alright now. I can cook myself. No point in sending me food. He also says: Frankly, I don't like to open the door from the outside. If somebody opens it from the inside then only I would have found some happiness in my life. Afterwards, Kofil tears away some red spinach and a gourd and puts it into a basket and gives it to Moimuna. She takes it and walks back along the rail tracks.

At home, Moimuna cuts the gourd in half. While sorting out the red spinach she finds a marigold flower. Surprised Moimuna looks up at the evening sky aimlessly. She feels a pang in her heart for Kofil. With half a gourd and some spinach she walks up the stairs of the dilapidated house with a kerosene lamp to light the way to where Ambia stays. Seeing the wares, Ambia immediately understands that it is from Kofil's garden. An emotion-charged Moimuna says: What's happened to me. I can't seem to forget the man's face. Ambia does not appreciate Moimuna's affection for the ailing man. She says: Think over it. You have lost one. Do you want to marry yet another sick man? Moimuna says, she is not thinking of marrying him. Finding an opportune moment, Ambia says: I'm saying that the labour leader may not be a good man but he has money. If he marries you, officially, what's wrong? Moimuna replies, instantly: What are you saying? Do you want me to be his third wife? Ambia then reminds Moimuna that if she did not oblige the lobour leader then she could be fired. And that she would not be able to find work anywhere else, either. His men are everywhere. Hearing Ambia's rant, Moimuna becomes silent. Ambia suggests that they go out to watch a traditional play Molua, which is being staged nearby today. Moimuna assents.

The next day Ananta is found at the railway platform sketching on a paper with a pencil, given by Kofil. On the other hand, Moimuna is working at the stone stacks; lobour leader's assistant, Rahmat, sitting atop a stone stack watches the flow of work. Trucks full of stone come and as soon as they are unloaded rush off. Suddenly, Ananta sees the Goods Master with some people rushing towards Kofil's room. Ananta joins them. Standing in front of Kofil's room, Ananta sees Kofil sitting on an old wooden bench. The Station Master standing by his side. Because of rheumatic fever Kofil has high fever. His face sweating and his body shaking, frequently. He fell sick after inspecting the lines. The Goods Master suggests taking Kofil to a hospital but the Station Master rules it out, saying : What's the point. He will be alright soon. Ananta looks at Kofil with great shock. Kofil is so weak from the fever that at one point his head collapses, suddenly, on the bench. Ananta is panicky seeing the scene.

At lunch Ananta tells his mother: Do you know, Kofil uncle fell again. The head suddenly crashed onto the bench. Eyes closed, the face completely covered with sweat. Moimuna is shocked, too. But she does not express it in front of her son. On the way back from work she lingers in front of Kofil's house. Ananta just behind her. Through the crevice of the door she sees Kofil lying on the cot, a home-made cotton blanket spread over his body. A colleague sitting by his side. Kofil coughing, repeatedly. At one point, some blood comes out with the cough. Seeing it, Moimuna bites at the end of her sari. Kofil glances at Moimuna, once. His eyes shut. Moimuna's face, gradually, fades from his gaze. Kofil goes into a delirium because of the soaring fever. He sees that he is slowly drifting into a mist on his rail push trolley, a red flag in his hand: The young grass and wild flowers creeping on the sides of railway slippers. Suddenly, he sees a person, just like him; standing on the side of the railway lines, he waves the red flag at him. The Kofil standing by the railway track waves back a green flag and bids him good-bye.

The next day at work Moimuna watches the labour leader coming towards her. He says: I will knock on the door at night. If you open the bolt, then I will understand that you agree. In that case, your job becomes secure. If not, your job, here, ends tomorrow. Understand? Moimuna does not reply. Her leg thumb scratches the ground. Finding no dissent the labour leader concludes that her consent had been secured. At night Moimuna, Ambia and Ananta go to watch Molua-pala-a traditional play. It is winter and the audience have shawls and caps to protect them from the cold as they watch the play staged by Dilu Bayati of Kendua. In the audience is Ambia, Moimuna, the labour leader and Ananta. When Netai, the schemer's context comes in the pala, Ambia is vexed. When the Kazi's context comes, the labour leader grins. The similarities between the play Molua-pala and Rest Is Silence are striking. The juxtaposition is deliberate. The main character of Molua-pala is parallel to Rest Is Silence. The Kazi in Molua-pala is the gang leader, Netai, the schemer, is Ambia, and Binod is Kofil. In the pala when Binod dies, he is brought back to life by Molua. But in reality, when Kofil dies, Moimuna can't do anything. When Moimuna notices the segment where Molua verifies her chastity, Moimuna's mind experiences a change. She realizes if she agrees to the labour leader's proposal her unspoiled state would be gone. In the play, Molua drowns but in reality Moimuna sacrifices her virginity to save the ailing Kofil. This is the way, that Rest Is Silence becomes a revision of the traditional play Molua-pala.

After watching the play Moimuna is fidgety. After dinner when Ananta goes to sleep in the adjacent room, she remains sleepless. The sound of cricket breaks the tranquility of the night. The only other sound is of a dog, barking a number of times. As soon as she gets ready to sleep she hears the sound of a knock on the door. Moimuna is startled. After two/three knocks, Moimuna unlocks the bolt of the aging but ornamented gate. The gang leader enters the room. Moimuna bolts the entrance with trembling hands. The dog, too, ceases to growl. As dawn breaks Moimuna plunges in the derelict millpond for a wash. She rinses her body with soap, again and again and immerses into the water, repeatedly. She feels that her body's grime is not being swabbed away, fully. She saunters over to the millpond's stairway. At one point, she returns home. Life goes on, despite the many assaults it endures. Moimuna's life moves on yet again, in the face of her shady night. She wraps the food into their pot-for her and Ananta. In another meal box she lays some food for Kofil. She puts the containers into the make-shift bag, locks the room from outside and starts walking towards the railway station.

The haze had receded a long time back. Even then, being a bare terrain there is trace of dew drops on the railway tracks. Moimuna is walking briskly, well ahead of Ananta, on the plane of the railway track. The Panchagarh railway station is a little further up. Moimuna is walking a little more hastily than usual. Ananta is picking the shingles that lie between the slippers and tossing them afar. That's a sport he loves. As Moimuna approaches Kofil's house, she watches from a distance, a body draped in white shroud being shifted in a casket. The Station Master is also there. Kofil was intimate with him. Both were lonely men -one complemented the other. The allusion is not lost on Moimuna. Impulsively, her hand picks up the end of her sari and she bites it, hard. Ananta walks up to his mother and says : Will you give the canteen, mother? The mother in an undertone says : no. She then grapples up the hand of her son and walks towards the station.

When she arrives at her work place Ambia walks up and consoles her. Ambia came to work a lot earlier, so she knows about Kofil's death long ago. She breaks the news to Moimuna. She reins her cry and gets down to work. At one point, Moimuna's work ends. She returns home. On her way back, she hears the sound of a tube well being pressed. Stunned, she spins around: she sees the garden from afar. She feels a twinge in her heart for Kofil. She breaks into a silent sob. She starts walking again. It is the same path she takes, everyday, to work and back. She looks at the sky: the sun is going down. She feels helpless. She feels she has lost something. Even after such sufferings and rout, life has to move on. A sore tale of her life ends, where she mutely added to the welfare of one more.