 Mala is the daughter of Kishanlal who works as a servant with a wealthy family. One day Mala meets with the owner of this family, who is so impressed with Mala that he asks for her hand in marriage for his fourth son, Gopal, which Kishanlal humbly accepts. As a result Mala gets married to Gopal, and moves in to their palatial home. While Mala is extremely helpful and sweet-natured, the rest of the daughter-in-laws, three of them, are quite the opposite. When bad times befall this family, the owner passes away; Gopal and Mala move out, leaving Gopal s mother at the mercy of her indifferent sons, Girdhar, Murli, Manohar, and their abusive wives who refuse to assist in any household work, virtually forcing their aged mother-in-law to all menial work, not looking after her needs, even when she becomes ill, and ultimately throwing her out of the house. Gopal gains popularity as a musician, while his brothers mortgage their family home with a moneylender. They decide to live off Gopal, and tell him that their mother has gone for a tirath-yatra (holy journey). With that out of the way, the brothers go back to their lifestyle, not really caring that their mother may be destitute, ill, and on the verge of dying.