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This is the first of a two-case series. In March 2004, Coca-Cola suspended production at its US$12 million bottling plant in Kerala, in southern India. The plant had become the focus of an around-the-clock protest by local citizens, who noticed that the water in their wells had either dried up or become polluted within months of the plant’s opening. They were joined first by local and eventually by global activists concerned about resource privatisation on a larger scale. As the controversy snowballed, figuring persistently in print and on-line media, the local governing authority, which had initially welcomed the plant, refused to renew its license. Even state government, normally supportive of foreign investment, became part of the vortex of forces aligned against Coke in Kerala. The case series tells how Coca-Cola - with the most valuable brand in the world - became caught in a web of legal, strategic and ethical challenges. It is told from a variety of stakeholder perspectives. This case was sponsored by the Indiana University CIBER Case Collection.