The film was set in 1920s and depicts a rural village in Karnataka, where a young widow—the daughter of a village scholar, who runs a local school—finds herself pregnant after being seduced by a teacher. While the girl remains unaware of the happenings within and around her, she is excommunicated by her father, who performs her funeral rites while she is still alive. The story is told from the perspective of young boy, who returns home as his school shuts down following the incident.