Subbaiah Sastry, a Vedic Pundit in his heyday, has fallen so low in life that he pushed into accepting Tiladaanam - regarded as one of the lowliest of Hindu rites. He is wholly oblivious to the forces of modernisation around him. His son Raghuram has espoused terorism and is sought by the police. Raghuram's wife Padma, gives birth to a male child, who, according to Sastry, was born at an evil moment, and since this might bring death to the child's father, he performs a ritual to ward off the evil eye.

Padma takes the unfolding events in her stride. But pushed to the wall, she acts in a way that is socially unacceptable. In the process, however, she gains an identity for herself. In the meantime, hounded by the police, Raghuram vows to preserve his ideology, while Padma is left to face a hostile world and begin an altogether new journey...