Set in 1930s, the film tells the story of an honest Chinese hawker, Wang Lu ,who sells silk in Calcutta's streets while refusing to get involved in the opium trade run by his fellow countrymen. He feels a sisterly affection towards Basanti engaged in a political group, the wife of a lawyer. Basanti is arrested and imprisoned causing Wang Lu to get involved with her political group. He later returns to China to join the resistance movement against the Japanese invasion of China in 1931.