“Sexy” by Lahiri explores love, the lack of love, and how that all relates to isolation. Miranda, the main character, is a woman living in Boston when she begins an affair with Dev, an Indian man whose wife is visiting India. Much of the story is the audience, as well as Miranda, realizing how little the two know about each other. Miranda is caught off guard when Dev calls her sexy, as she is unsure exactly what he means. More trials take place, and the audience sees that Miranda knows nothing of Indian culture as seen by her confusion entering an Indian market, little knowledge of Bollywood, and lack of acceptance of her old Indian neighbors. The two only have a surface level understanding of each other, as shown by Rohin, who gives Miranda his definition of sexy:

This is an awakening moment for Miranda and the audience. Miranda finally sees through the guise of a relationship that she was caught in. This whole time she was under the impression of belonging with someone, but the reality of the situation came through, leaving her not only alone, but also feeling bad for her actions while with Dev. She lets the two of them drift apart, and she is back where she started.