Eldhose works for Abubacker, a Malayali gangster based in Erode, who assigns him to infiltrate the factory of his rival Saravanan in Denkanikottai and kill him.
In a preceding flashback, the film takes us to Eldhose’s native village, Malayattoor. As a child, Eldhose saved a grown man named Aruvi from drowning, but he could not save his own father in the same perilous moment. That act of bravery would follow him, and years later he would receive a bravery medal from the President of India, earning him the village’s nickname “Dheeran.” This early memory underscores a complex mix of courage and tragedy that threads through his adult choices.
Years pass, and panchayat president Abbas learns that Eldhose has died in a factory accident in Tamil Nadu. Abbas takes on the mission of bringing Eldhose’s body back home before the New Year, arranging an ambulance through temple worker Spinesh. He’s joined on the road by Aruvi, Kunjan, Joppan, Dixon, and Suramya’s mother, who herself is traveling to Palakkad, where Suramya now lives. The journey binds together people who carry their own burdens and histories with Eldhose.
Aruvi, now an alcoholic and a workshop welder, had been abandoned by his wife, who eloped with her Bengali assistant. He joins the journey largely because Eldhose once saved his life, a debt that remains hard to repay in any simple way. Dixon serves as Eldhose’s brother-in-law and represents the family, adding a familial tension to the voyage. Spinesh, previously engaged to Suramya, had his own plans for the future derailed after a food-poisoning incident that halted their marriage plans. There is an undercurrent of suspicion around Eldhose, who had shown interest in Suramya, and Abbas had tried to steer their union toward compliance. Suramya refuses commitment, which prompts Eldhose to drift away from the village in the past. In a conflict, Abbas is injured as Eldhose departs, and Eldhose ultimately saves Abubacker from drowning and joins his gang, drawing him deeper into a world of crime and loyalty.
On the long road, Suramya eventually marries elsewhere and settles in Palakkad, while Kunjan—long attracted to Suramya’s mother—joins the group to accompany her, and his brother Joppan comes along as well. The layers of personal history begin to intersect with the present danger and the fragile alliance against the rival Saravanan.
As the narrative unfolds, it is revealed that Eldhose is not actually dead. Saravanan had killed another worker, Gireesan, and passed off the body as Eldhose’s while secretly keeping Eldhose captive. When the villagers arrive to claim the body, Saravanan realizes they were not the ones behind the earlier attempt on his life. Eldhose makes his escape with the help of Malli’s daughter, a local liquor seller, and the villagers rally to support him as they learn the truth.
After the body is taken, the villagers go to the factory to demand compensation. There, they discover that Saravanan himself is the owner, and confrontations erupt as Eldhose joins the townspeople in combat against Saravanan’s men. In a twist of truth and guilt, Joppan confesses that he had added laxatives to the food at Suramya’s cancelled wedding feast because of a quarrel with Kunjan, who had been the event’s caterer. The tension between old loyalties and new revelations pushes the group toward a desperate flight from the factory grounds.
As they flee, Abubacker and his men appear, setting the stage for a final clash between the two rival gangs. Spinesh lights New Year crackers inside the ambulance, and the blast from an oxygen cylinder triggers a dramatic explosion. The villagers manage to escape, while Saravanan and his men are killed in the chaos. In the end, Eldhose returns home, and the village begins its New Year celebrations, tempered by the scars of the violent events they’ve endured and the ambiguity of loyalty, revenge, and survival.
