Manicheran Gounder or Periya Gounder, the rich head of the village with his wife Paarvathi and daughter Vennila, is a person who strictly adheres to the caste system. Rajapaandi or Chinna Gounder is Periya Gounder's half brother and also a rich landlord in the same village, and Parimalam is his sister. Since Rajapaandi's mother was from a suppressed caste, Periya Gounder stays aloof from him and always ignores and berates Rajapaandi and Parimalam. Their father, before dying, had divided his entire property, including the house, equally between the two brothers, and they live on either side of the house, split by a wall. Yet, Periya Gounder's family gets first respect within the village and the local temple, and he refuses to yield any privilege to Rajapaandi.

Chandran, a young relative of Rajapaandi, comes to meet and work under him in the village and falls in love with Vennila. Periya Gounder is furious when he learns of this and tries to get Vennila married to his brother-in-law, and after being rebuked by him, he makes arrangements for Vennila's marriage with a womanising thug, son of a devious village elder, since he belongs to his own caste. After a serious turn of events, Periya Gounder has a change of heart with some heartfelt advice from Paarvathi, renounces his casteist mindset and accepts Rajapaandi as his equal sibling and Chandran and Vennila end up getting married.