Mullankolli is a rustic, wind-swept village in the Wayanad district of northern Kerala, where Mullankolli Velayudhan Mohanlal grows up under the care of the generous yet formidable Puthusseri Valiya Nambiar. An orphan whose mother arrived on a flood-swollen raft years earlier, he is raised with a strong sense of justice and a personal code: when he plants a stick, it marks his stamp of authority. The only men he truly listens to are Valiya Nambiar and Kelappan, who looked after him as a child. This fragile balance of power and loyalty sets the stage for a village where fear, respect, and affection intertwine, and where the line between protector and tyrant often blurs.
The village’s power dynamics are tested from the start. Kuruppu [Jagathy Sreekumar] and Gopinath Nambiar [Siddique], the latter being Valiya Nambiar’s son-in-law, push their own rules and ambitions, regularly hiring goons from outside to challenge Velayudhan. Yet time and again, his resolve holds firm, and the locals watch as a brutal, almost ceremonial order settles over Mullankolli. In this volatile mix, outsiders fear the raw strength that Velayudhan wields, while the villagers increasingly depend on him to keep the peace in a place where law and custom often collide.
Three women cross his path and test his heart: Kunnummel Shantha [Sona Nair], a sharp-witted prostitute who knows the village’s secrets; Janaki [Bhavana], his childhood crush who harbors her own pain; and Kelappan’s daughter Leela, whose presence tugs at his loyalties. Janaki’s husband Krishnan [Maniyanpilla Raju], a heavy drinker, despises the memory of what might have been for Janaki and Velayudhan. Although Gopi’s true colors reveal themselves, Velayudhan keeps his distance from Gopi’s schemes, not out of fear but out of respect for Gopi’s wife Sunanda and Valiya Nambiar’s daughter. The delicate balance of affections, rumors, and alliances begins to fracture the village’s fragile harmony.
During the annual temple festival, Kuruppu capitalizes on the town’s tensions, and Gopi intensifies his schemes by offering extra money to have Velayudhan stabbed in the dark. The plot fails—Velayudhan defeats the attackers, and his arrest by the police is short-lived once an elderly constable uncovers the truth of his innocence. The monsoon reawakens the river’s power, and Velayudhan launches his routine flood-time quest for items carried by the raging current, aided by Kelappan and boatman Ahmed. A new threat emerges when Hamsa, a goon hired by Gopi, tries to topple him by severing a critical rope. Velayudhan nonetheless manages to seize and secure his prize log, warning his enemies with a fierce display of strength.
Velayudhan’s search for a life beyond violence takes a turn toward marriage with Leela, but a calculated rumor propagated by Gopi through Kuruppu sabotages the union. Leela resists, even attempting to leap from a cliff to escape the dishonor, only to be saved by Velayudhan. In a decisive moment, Valiya Nambiar persuades him to vow never to drink or beat again. That night, Velayudhan confides a painful childhood memory and his enduring love for Janaki to Ahmed, who offers shelter. The next morning, Ahmed arrives with grave news: Velayudhan has been left badly beaten in his sleep by the village goons, deepening the villagers’ sympathy for him even in his absence.
With Velayudhan sidelined, chaos envelops Mullankolli as goons run amok and the community rapidly realizes how much they depend on his presence. Gopi intensifies his machinations—Keeri Raghavan is charged with supplying food to Janaki, and Krishnan confronts Keeri at the toddy shop, only to be beaten and inadvertently stabbed with a glass bottle, forcing Krishnan to flee. Gopi then uses the chaos to seize control of critical documents under a chit fund scheme steered by Kurup, whose own sense of betrayal grows as he realizes he’s been duped, yet powerless to stop Gopi’s scheming.
Valiya Nambiar’s death—ruled a heart attack by some, mourned as a calculated strike by others—shocks Mullankolli. The village reels in grief, while Hamsa’s provocations push Velayudhan to break his vow by reasserting his strength. Yet his return to the river—this time with bandages and an unyielding resolve—becomes a symbol of communal hope, as Kelappan and Ahmed, along with the villagers, attempt to pull him to shore by securing a rope.
As dawn breaks after a grim night, Janaki and her daughter confront Gopi when he stalks them; they leap into a well to escape, and Gopi escapes but is later tracked. Kuruppu exposes that Gopi was the one who murdered Valiya Nambiar, shifting the village’s mood toward justice. Velayudhan finally corners Hamsa, breaking the earlier implied truce with a direct, brutal confrontation. The climactic showdown sees Gopi flee in his jeep, only to be intercepted by the enraged crowd and Velayudhan. After a long, furious struggle, Velayudhan drowns Gopi in the river, a definitive act that avenges Valiya Nambiar and Janaki. As the police arrive, Velayudhan hides his tears and reveals a quiet, almost serene happiness—the villagers’ presence and farewell confirming that his vigilante era has come to a solemn close, and Mullankolli has found a way to move forward together.
