Janardhanarao Panthulu has his 6-year-old daughter Lalitha married to an old man who dies shortly after. Lalitha is brought up by her father under the strictures of widowhood.
The film begins with Kalavathi, the only daughter of Simhala King Rajasimha, who is averse to marriage. So was Sudhakara, son of King Parthapa of Avanthi. Unable to convince him to get married, King Parthapa keeps him, along with a servant Dooradarsi, in a dilapidated house in the forest.
