In 1980, Chenna Keshava, Karthik Jayaram, a wandering writer, travels across rural India to chronicle the lives and struggles of ordinary people. He reaches a drought-stricken region and seeks shelter at the home of Muthanna, his wife Gowramma, and their daughter Mallika, Anupama Gowda “Malli.” The family’s land, once a source of cotton and fortune, has fallen into debt after repeated crop failures and mounting medical expenses. Veering between pride and desperation, they mortgaged their land to a wealthy lender named Veeranna and now work on the same property as laborers trying to repay the loan. Chenna Keshava’s presence brings a glimmer of opportunity, and he offers financial help, though the family declines, preferring to hold onto their dignity.
Mallika becomes intrigued by the traveler’s wealth—the money and jewelry tucked away in his suitcase—and asks to try on some of the ornaments. As she experiments with the trinkets, she begins to imagine a life freed from poverty and debt. She interprets a string of omens—the sighting of a lizard on her shoulder and the fortune-teller’s predictions—as signs that the visitor is fated to die, and she covertly convinces her mother that his death could secure their future. Initially horrified, Gowramma hesitates, but Muthanna overhears their discussion and asserts that he will handle the matter himself, asking them not to take any action before he returns from a local bar.
Unable to bring herself to murder directly, Gowramma decides to poison Chenna Keshava’s dinner by mixing toxic leaves into the chicken curry prepared for him. The plan is nearly set in motion, but two policemen arrive at the house in search of a thief on the run. Fearing that the poisoned meal could be served to the officers, Gowramma spills the plate. The family’s pet dog consumes the tainted food and dies, confirming the danger. Consumed by guilt and shaken by the threat he faces, Gowramma abandons the plan.
Yet the danger has not passed. After the policemen depart, Chenna Keshava eats a fresh meal and goes to sleep, unaware of the danger that still lingers. Enraged by her mother’s hesitation, Mallika decides to act on her own and violently slits Chenna Keshava’s throat, ending his life. At the same moment, a young worker at the bar reveals a devastating truth to Muthanna: the guest staying in his house is actually Subbu, Muthanna’s long-lost son who had run away years earlier and returned under a concealed identity. Realizing his son’s life could be in danger, Muthanna hurries home, only to discover that Subbu has been murdered. The revelation fractures the family’s resolve, and Gowramma and Mallika are overwhelmed by remorse, consuming the poisoned food themselves and collapsing beside Subbu’s lifeless body.
In a final, tragic act of grief, Muthanna spreads unginned cotton across the room, sets it alight, and perishes along with his wife and daughter. The fire consumes the room and seals the fate of a family caught between pride, poverty, and a desperate hope for a better future, leaving the landscape of rural India marked by a haunting outcome.
