Geeta Devi is one of the daughters-in-law of a prominent, affluent family, and after becoming widowed she remains youthful and attractive enough to be drawn into a relationship with a neighbor, Lalit Ramji. They begin living together, and with Geeta's daughter Apsara by his side, the trio initially appears to form a happy, if fragile, little unit.
One day, Lalit vanishes without a trace, and the life of Geeta and Apsara starts to crumble. Apsara’s schooling is halted when the authorities learn of her parents’ past, and with no steady income, their landlord pushes them out, forcing their move to a hutment colony. Geeta turns to work as a maid to support her daughter, while Apsara clings to the memory of her father, clinging to a love that feels real but is often only an illusion.
When Geeta learns Lalit has become a rising politician, Apsara pleads with her mother to go to New Delhi and seek him out, hoping he will rescue them from poverty. The attempt ends in rejection, and Geeta returns home emotionally shattered, losing faith in human goodness and turning to alcohol. She eventually dies, leaving Apsara alone at sixteen.
The now-orphaned girl takes up her mother's work as a maid in the house of a widower who is 15 years her senior. He appears genuinely concerned and slowly earns her trust, eventually inviting her to live with him despite the age gap. After a cautious start, she agrees and for a time finds a semblance of security. That protector is struck down by a heart attack, and his relatives accuse the girl of murder. She is briefly detained and then released for lack of evidence. With no solid means of livelihood, she turns to prostitution for a period.
Back in Mumbai, she finds herself living at the railway station with three other street kids, and she rises to a leadership role among them. Then she learns that her father is coming to the city from Delhi to deliver a conference. She attends, and during the event, she stands up and proclaims that she is his daughter. Lalit ignores her, and she is escorted out by the police, left a few miles down the road.
In the end, the harsh truth lands firmly: her mother was right, and her father had indeed abandoned them. Amid the harsh cruelty life can deliver, she walks along, lamenting her fate and railing at existence, until a henchman of Lalit’s steps behind her and ends her life. The film closes on the image of her dying on the grass.
