Raghavan Thampi (Thilakan) and his wife Subhadra (Sukumari) have two sons, Prabhakaran (Nedumudi) and Pradeep (Jayaram). Prabhakaran wants to become a mridungam maestro against the wishes of his parents who want him to get married. When Prabhakaran refuses, Subhadra emotionally blackmails him and gets him married off to Shailaja (Geetha). Meanwhile Pradeep falls in love with Roshni (Urvashi) and they get married secretly without their parents' knowledge.
