thangam, a young woman, is married to a much older man, rajamanickam mudaliar. he has two children from his first marriage: a daughter lakshmi, and a son, selvam. mudaliar dies when thangam is pregnant with his child. selvam falls in love with a rich girl malathi while thirumalai, a playboy, tries to separate them. when the widowed thangam's child is born, lakshmi spreads rumours that selvam is the father of the child, and had an incestuous relationship with thangam. malathi believes these rumours and begins to torment thangam. how thangam surmounts the problems forms the rest of the story.