The story describes the struggle of a young villager Kangeyan (played by Rajinikanth) to receive justice for his brother's murder. Manickam falls in love with Mallika, the daughter of Pannaiar. Mallika's marriage is arranged with Dorai (played by Raghuvaran) but refuses and declares her love for Mannikam. Kangeyan gets them married in the village. The priest pretends to have divine powers and uses superstitious belief of the villagers to kill Manickam. Kangeyan, not wanting to see Mallika as a widow, decides to her married again to Pandian, a cart driver who was her childhood friend. Dorai intervenes again proceeding to use superstition again and Kangeyan learns about truth behind his brother death exposing the priest and Dorai losing his lover in the process.